


The Key to My Home is Your Heart

by Senbei



Category: Uta no Prince-sama
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Drug Use, Drunk Sex, F/M, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Minor Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-14
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-08-23 15:59:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16622018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Senbei/pseuds/Senbei
Summary: Ranmaru and Reiji. A rocker and a playboy. Roommates. What happens when one falls in love? University/Collage AURating will change as necessary. Also, this summary sucks.





	1. A Day in the Life of Kurosaki Ranmaru

“Hey, do you want to do something fun tonight?” a muffled voice asks teasingly as the bedroom door across the hall closes.

“Hmm? What do have in store?” says the female voice behind the wall in a syrupy voice, “Surprise me?” Ranmaru looks up at the clock on his desk and groans before realizing that his roommate was finally back from a night out – most likely drunk and with a partner. He stops his pen and can feel the veins in his brow twitching already in irritation.

Kotobuki Reiji, his friend since high school. Kotobuki Reiji, his one and only roommate. Kotobuki Reiji, professional female heart stealer. Kotobuki Reiji, the social butterfly. Kotobuki Reiji, the guy you think is a klutz but is actually a genius at everything. Kotobuki Reiji, a guy so annoying you can’t help but like him. Kotobuki Reiji, a guy so likable that it’s almost annoying. Kotobuki Reiji, the guy Ranmaru happens to be in love with. 

He can hear some tumbling in the room beside and Ranmaru can see it already in his mind, the vixen sitting in between Reiji’s legs as she puts her arms around his neck, whispering sweet nothings. Reiji reciprocating by running his hand down her back, slowly lifting the end of her shirt and touching her soft flesh. They’re taking off their clothes and tossing it aside, looking deep inside each others eyes, lips coming together – and a smack! Ranmaru lightly hits his head to stop his running imagination and opens his eyes.

It’s just past 3am and he’s half tempted to tell the two to shut up, he can hear the bed springs creaking already and it’ll only be a matter of time before they both start moaning their heads off. His seat scrapes the floor as he gets up and starts to walk to his bedroom door before he stops himself mid stride. 

Who actually wants to walk in on someone having sex? But more importantly, who actually wants to walk in on their crush having sex with some nobody? Nope, not crush he striked out in his head, _interest_ if anything. That was beside the point. Not him at least. He wasn’t gonna walk in there. Also noted somewhere in his brain, drunk Reiji can’t be and will not be stopped. He’s tried before in the past and there’s no way he’s going through that shit again.

Grimacing, Ranmaru growls and plops down on his bed. He stares moodily at the ceiling before turning on his side, staring at the door in front of him. He eyes his bass in the corner of his eye. Fuck studying, he’s already out of the mood. He’ll just play some retaliatory bass on max volume to calm himself down. That’ll fucking teach Reiji. 

He gets up to reach for the neck of the bass before mentally stopping himself, remembering that he had work in morning. He was opening too. At 8am. Fuck. He stares down the door and swears that he could see the hearts that were slipping through the cracks from the sex across the hall. His face scrunches into a scowl.

That’s it. He was going to bed. Not that playing the bass right in front of Reiji’s room would’ve stopped his drunken ass. If anything, that would just result in noise complaints from the building filed at him and there was no way he was going to pay a fine or some shit because of this. The sorry state of his finances aside, there was no way in hell he was going to come out of this unscathed if he reacted now. Ranmaru grumbled for the billionth time within those few minutes and got up to turn off the lights. Time to go the fuck asleep. Ignoring the heated sounds in the apartment, like a routine, Ranmaru closed his eyes and let sleep wash over.

_________________

 _Beep! Beep! Beep!_ At 6:30 Ranmaru’s alarm goes off and the soft early morning daylight filters through the curtains. His head aches and rings from the lack of sleep as he buries his face deeper into his pillow. Ranmaru groans before reaching out to turn off the wailing alarm at his bedside. His mind and body both said no to the morning but his paycheck called. Sluggishly getting up, he lightly smacks his cheeks to wake himself. His shift is only till noon. He could do this. Grabbing a set of clothes he made his way to the bathroom.

Ranmaru worked part time at the local downtown record shop and at the diner a few blocks away from Shining Academy University, SAU for short. As for why it was called something stupid like Shining Academy University instead of Shining Academy or Shining University, Ranmaru had no idea. The president of the university was a bit of an infamous, eccentric nut job afterall. 

While the record store wasn’t particularly busy in the mornings, stocking items while listening to rock albums was one of Ranmaru’s favourite ways to start the day. His job at the diner helped solve some of his meals and work on his favourite hobby too. Occasionally when a buddy or two needed a hand, he also worked as a bartender at the university bar or neighbourhood club.

Stepping into the shower spray, a quick shower was all he needed to get ready. Scrubbing down his body, he not so secretly hoped that the shower would wake up his roommate or the girl on the other side for a bit of sweet revenge. Reiji wouldn’t get mad, in fact he might even apologize if he wasn’t drunk on his ass enough to forget. The girl also wasn’t a problem since she was just one of many girls that came and went from Reiji’s room. He couldn’t care less what she thought of him, Reiji’s asshole roommate.

Staring down at his feet for a minute too long, Ranmaru huffs and turns off the shower. If he didn’t get going, he was seriously going to be late. He didn’t know how Reiji managed to roll out of bed perfect but he was different. A quick blow dry of his hair, gel, putting on his contact and make up, he had a style to maintain and damn did that bite him when he had no time. Franticly finishing up, he throws his eyeliner onto the counter, hustles out and flicks off the bathroom light.

Making his way to the kitchen, he grabs 2 bananas before speeding off to the fridge. He opens it and takes a quick scan. Nothing he can grab without fixing beforehand. He reaches out and has his hand on a bottle of water before he eyes the new carton of milk in the fridge. Reiji’s carton of milk. The milk for Reiji’s sugary cereal. The cereal that Reiji religiously eats and never without milk. Never.

Without thinking twice, Ranmaru grabs the milk and fishes in his jacket pocket for his apartment keys. He’ll either drink it all himself or find some stray cat to feed. Yeah, that’s what he’ll do. He’ll hear Reiji bitch about his cereal for the next few days but a little too peeved care; he locks up and exits the apartment. It’s a 45 minute bike ride to the record store, he’ll have to speed but he’ll make it. 

______________

Sunlight glows through the window, bright but soft. It’s warm and all Reiji wants to do is hold on to the warmth forever. His brown eyes slowly open and he lazily stretches his neck. He looks in his arms, a pale and slender body, slightly tinted with pink. Long brown hair flowing past her shoulders, wrapped up in his arms as he watches her slowly awake. Her eyes flutter open and he caresses her face softly.

“Good morning, Rumi-chan,” Reiji whispers with a smile in his voice.

Rumi looks up and into his eyes and puts on a soft smile.

She pokes his chin with a soft tap of her finger. “Good morning, Rei-chan.”

Reiji looks at the clock by his bedside. It’s just past 11:30, almost noon. Reiji stretches his body, sitting up with Rumi’s body cradled in his arms. He meets Rumi’s eyes again.

“Did you sleep well?” he asks warmly.

“I got woken up a bit this morning. I think your roommate was showering. Went back to sleep though since I was soo tired,” she sighed, into his chest.

Reiji chuckles. “Ah, he probably had work this morning. I’ll have to apologize to him later for being a bit noisy last night.” He winks to girl in front of him.

“Are you calling me an inconvenience?” she pouts.

“Of course not! But I’ll bet he’s sporting a pretty mean face right about now~ Ranran really likes his sleep you know?”

“Hmph.” Rumi turns away from Reiji, her cheeks blown up with air.

“Aw, don’t be like that Rumi-chan.” With an angelic smile, Reiji brings his face to face hers. “My girl, your angry face is cute too but a smile on your pretty face suits you so much better! So come on, smile for me, please?”

Rumi looks back at him with a glance and breaks into a smile. She puts her arms around Reiji’s neck and gives him a quick peck on the check. “You know I can never say no to you Rei-chan.” She laces their hands together.

“Then how about we wash up and I’ll cook us both a nice lunch?” offers Reiji. Reiji knows his food is to die for and everyone begs him for some all the time. He was starting to get a little hungry himself. He just went to the grocery store the day before so there would be more than enough for him and a guest.

“Okay,” Rumi agrees. Hand in hand, they walk out to the bathroom next door. Flicking on the lights, Reiji notices a pen on the floor. He bends over to pick it up and rolls the pen to read the label. Eyeliner.

“Eyeliner?” asks Rumi. She looks at Reiji accusingly. “Don’t tell me –“

“Nope,” Reiji laughs and cuts her off. “Roommate.” Reiji places it on the counter next to Ranmaru’s other makeup.

Rumi looks at the products on the counter and then back at Reiji as he leads her to the shower.

“Weird,” she grumbles with a huff before joining Reiji under the spray.  
______________________

Reiji opens the fridge as Rumi sits on the sofa, flicking through the channels while watching Reiji.

“Hmm, Rumi-chan, would you like some karaage and rice or some mac and cheese with bacon?” Reiji asks, head tilting back to look at her.

“Anything’s fine! Rei-chan you decide!” she chirps, looking at Reiji fondly. Reiji glances up at the kitchen clock.

“Ok! Leave it to Rei-chan! I don’t know if I have enough unfrozen chicken right now so mac and cheese it is!” Reiji concludes. He grabs the bacon, butter, cheese, and hmm? He moves around some items in the fridge. Where was the milk? He could’ve sworn he grabbed some milk the other day… Yeah, he bought some so he could bake some muffins and finish up the last bit of his cereal… Did Ranm-

“Rei-chan?” Snapping Reiji out of his thoughts, Reiji turns around.

“Ah, it seems like I don’t have any milk!” Reiji laughs scratching his face with his finger, looking apologetically at Rumi.

“Milk? Do you have to use milk? Is water ok?” Rumi offers.

“Water? Ah, yeah, that should be ok?” Reiji doesn’t actually know but he shrugs. It should be fine. He closes the fridge and rolls up his sleeves. 

_____

Ranmaru locks up his bike on the bike rack and heads into the lobby of the apartment. It’s lunchtime and he’s positively starving. Work was good, a bit of light lifting and sorting through records, helping out an elderly couple find the song of their wedding dance, and listening to some rock music, honestly it couldn’t be better. On the way back, he stopped and found a couple of cats to feed too. The elevator rings for his floor and he steps out. 

Reaching his door and checking his pockets for his keys, he could smell food from behind the door wafting. That meant Reiji was up. Whether or not that girl was still here was another thing too. Pinching the bridge of his nose and with a sigh, he opened the solid lock with a few loud clicks and opened the door. He looked down. Two pairs of shoes, a guy’s – Reiji’s, and a girl’s. A female handbag at the door. Fantastic.

Ranmaru almost closes the door in front of him to head back out to eat when he hears Reiji yell, “Ah, Ranran! Welcome back!” Great. Now he has to go in. 

He steels himself and goes in, taking his shoes off at the door. He heads into the kitchen to assess the damage. Reiji and the girl are sitting at the table, finishing up what looks to be the last bit of lunch. The television is on some mid-day drama with a cop and a criminal. Reiji, upon noticing Ranmaru entering the room, gets up from the table and points to the stove.

“Ranran, I made some mac and cheese for lunch, I made enough for you too so take some. Ah,” he motions to Rumi with a smile, “and this is Rumi-chan.”

Rumi replies with a meek hello and stares.

Ranmaru barely spares a look at her before grabbing a serving of mac and cheese and joining the two at the table. He eats silently, not looking up at the other two at the table. Reiji sits back down and raises a hand in apology to Rumi for Ranmaru’s rude behaviour before turning to face the man himself.

“Ah Ranran, have you seen the milk? I could’ve sworn I got some when we did our grocery run two days ago, you know, the one I was gonna-” Reiji started.

“Yeah, I took it this morning, sorry,” said Ranmaru, looking up at Reiji.

“Ah, it’s ok! It’s ok!” Reiji replies, arms waving. “I’ll just go get some more later! You know, to make muffins! Banana ones!” He laughs awkwardly, trying to salvage the little bit of conversation.

Ranmaru doesn't do so much as grunt and continues to fork the mac and cheese into his mouth. Ranmaru’s presence in the room alone makes it awkward as fuck but he didn’t care. He eats in silence, noting that milk probably would have made the mac better.

“Could it be… Ranran, are you mad about last night?” asks Reiji, concern on his face. “I’m so sorry! Rumi-chan and I made so much noise at such a late hour! I know you really like your sleep so I’m really sorry!” His hands in front of his face, Reiji apologizes profusely, Rumi’s face is beet red in comparison.

“Mad?” Ranmaru replies, “not really. What makes last night different from any other night? You bring a girl home every other day, and if not, you go to their places. You come back too drunk to care before having sex with some girl. I’m surprised you’re apologizing to me when you’ve been doing this for 3 years straight.”

Rumi noticeably freezes from Ranmaru’s harsh words. 

“R-ranran“ Reiji stutters at a loss for words.

“And you,” Ranmaru looks straight at Rumi, fork in her direction and Rumi visibly flinches, “Do you and all those other girls flock to Reiji hoping to be with him? He hasn’t been in a relationship that has lasted more than a month. Do you really have a chance? Don’t you have any pride?’

At Ranmaru’s declaration, Reiji is aghast for words, taken aback by Ranmaru. Rumi stands up from the table, biting her lip and heads towards the apartment door. “R-rei-chan,” she chokes, shaking, “I’m leaving now.” 

“Ah,” says Reiji, snapping out of shock, getting up to go after her, “Rumi-cha-“ The front door slams shut in Reiji’s face and he sighs, looking back at Ranmaru who was now grabbing another serving of mac and cheese.

“Ranran…” 

“What?” says Ranmaru, without a shred of guilt on his face as he sits back down at the table. “It’s true isn’t it?”

Reiji sighed, making his way back into the kitchen looking down at Ranmaru with a resigned look on his face. 

“Ranran, you’re too honest sometimes. I’ll have to apologize to her later.”

Ranmaru replies with a grunt and Reiji sits back down beside him. Reiji leans on his arms, watching Ranmaru eat. The tv continues to play in the background, filling up the space.

“Ah Ranran,” Reiji remembers, “I picked up your eyeliner in the bathroom. It was on the floor so I put it with the rest of your make up.”

“Oh, thanks,” said Ranmaru with a mouth full of food. “I was in a rush this morning.”

Reiji laughed. “It looked like it. Ranran who always takes care of his things has stuff on the floor? Never!”

“Ugh, I thanked you already ok?” replied Ranmaru with a look of irritation.

Reiji laughs harder and grins, “Yup!” He watches Ranmaru moodily eat the mac and cheese. That was his little bit of payback.

“Is it good?” he asks.

“Yeah, probably better with some milk though instead of water.”

“Hmm but what could I do?” A look of feigned puzzled innocence washes over Reiji’s face. “You took the milk for your revenge right? How many little kitties did you feed today?” Reiji teases with an all-knowing smile.

Ranmaru rolls his eyes but he can’t help a small smile crawl on his face as he looked away, his plot revealed so easily. He was not going to take the bait. He could feel Reiji’s face shining beside him, waiting. He wasn’t going to give it to him.

“Hey Ranran,” says Reiji after a moment, relenting, breaking the silence, “Do you want some karaage? I have some chicken in the fridge that I can fry up quickly.” 

Ranmaru turns to face Reiji's smile.

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A couple of story notes:  
> \- It's mid-September (I'll be using the Canadian university system since that is what I'm most familiar with, not the Japanese system) The terms are from Sept - Dec, Jan - Apr, May - Aug.
> 
> \- Reiji, Ranmaru and the rest of QUARTET NIGHT are the same age and are in their 3rd year of uni as music majors
> 
> \- STARISH are the same age and are 2nd years, also majoring in music
> 
> \- Ranmaru is going for a double major in music and business
> 
> \- Reiji's group of girl fans (My Girls) collectively agree that Reiji is shared unless Reiji says otherwise or has a girlfriend. Only then is he off limits. Any girl he takes home can only get his full attention for that night only! The rules are strict!
> 
> ________________________________________
> 
> Thanks for reading! This is my second fic! I'm really bad at writing long stories but I'll give it a shot! (This entry was a full 7 pages on Word, I'm so surprised that it looks so short on here... I need to step up my game haha) Fun fact: Reiji's waking up scene with Rumi used to only be 1 paragraph
> 
> Also, I'm aware the title sucks, to be fair, I almost named it Karaage because I'm running on no sleep. Yeah, Karaage. Really. I'll probably change it when I think of something better. (Suggestions welcome?) The summary sucks too, oh well.
> 
> This was supposed to come out on Suzuki Tatsuhisa's (Ranmaru's VA) birthday but I'm a few days late! Oh well, it's dedicated to him anyways!
> 
> This fic isn't beta'd so sorry if there are any errors! (Also if you would like to be my beta reader, please let me know!)


	2. Another Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! Finally the new chapter is here!
> 
>  
> 
> Rating bumped up but nothing much happens.

“Hey, Reiji, make them stop already,” a disgruntled voice says coolly, with irritation thinly veiled underneath.

“I’m trying!” says Reiji as he turns his face back to see blue steely eyes. He puts on a helpless expression and opens his mouth to say more when he hears a crash in front of him. He whips his head back around. “Hey, both of you!”

A chair lay on the side, ignored by their feet, Reiji sees Ranmaru raise his hand in a fist towards the man in front of him. Ranmaru’s teeth, clenched with anger.

“Didn’t you hear me you ass? Obviously rock is the best and only way to show our passion! That’s why we’re going to do rock!” Ranmaru spat, livid.

“Hmph, all you do is drone on and on about rock. As if your simple mind could understand majestic music! A cello concerto will more than suffice, you peasant!”

“What the hell did you say?!” yelled Ranmaru, snapping and grabbing the man by the collar.

“Okay, stop! Stop! Ranran, Myu-chan, stop it!” cried Reiji, grabbing Ranmaru’s arm that held Camus’ collar. Turning slightly back to face Ai, “Aiai, help me split them up! Help me grab Myu-chan!”

Forcing himself in between the two and grabbing Ranmaru around his chest, Reiji pushes him away from Camus, with Ai doing the same.

“You bastard! All you do is- Hey, Reiji, what the hell-“ Ranmaru starts.

“Alright, just sit down here and calm down, let’s take a break shall we?” says Reiji calmly but sternly, guiding Ranmaru and pushing him down on a chair by the meeting table. 

Ranmaru hunches on the chair with his face resting in his hand, looking away peeved. “The faster we get this done, the faster I don’t need to see this shithead’s face.” Ranmaru growled.

“Likewise. Having to be in the same vicinity as you makes the air putrid,” Camus retorted, arms folded.

Reiji sighed, sitting down beside Ranmaru. “Then let’s have a proper conversation ok? Myu-chan and Ranran, you two can sit away from each other but Myu-chan and Aiai, come sit at the table.” Reiji said, a hand waving them over.

Kotobuki Reiji and Kurosaki Ranmaru. Mikaze Ai and Camus. The four of them were in the same music faculty at SAU and were third years. Although they studied in their own specialties and majors, occasionally they would find themselves in the same classes, whether it was interest or mandatory courses. Sometime around first or second year, the four of them were placed in a group together, not of their choice of course, to produce a single for their final project. While almost all of them didn’t get along with each other, the final product that came from their clashing personalities was undoubtedly a piece that was slightly extraordinary. While the single went off into something that was forgotten, the four split ways as the semester passed. However, the professors and president took note of that slight extraordinary possibility, and did everything in their power to throw the group together again and again. Semester after semester they were thrown together in some way or another, clashing and fighting while creating greater and better works. And here they were today. In another group project, for another final.

They sat around the table in silence. Reiji looking between his partners with a face of reluctant acceptance, Ranmaru leaning in his chair with his hand propping him up on the side, Ai sitting in a perfect posture with his hands in his lap, and Camus with his eyes closed and arms crossed.

“So let’s start back from the beginning. This time we need to make a song for a headphone commercial and find some time to shoot a music video. Do we have any ideas for the song?” asked Reiji, breaking the silence.

“Like I said, rock obviously,” Ranmaru replied. “Showing the fiery passion that goes into rock music through the headphones is the best way to go.”

“Uh Ranr-“

“Didn’t you hear me, Kotobuki?” interrupted Camus, before Reiji could even respond. “A cello concerto is the superior choice. A mix of elegance and sophistication, anything else isn’t acceptable.”

“Myu-chan…” Giving Ranmaru a sidelong glance, before looking back at Camus. “Well, I don’t know if we’ll be able to get an orchestra to help us but we can try to use as many instruments as possible?” Reiji laughed weakly in response.

“I think we should create a song at least at 120 bpm, that way we have some flexibility on the genre if we do an upbeat song.” Ai says, matter of factly.

“Good one, Aiai!” Reiji whips around to face Ai excitedly. “Maybe we could do a hybrid of genres? Something where we could mix a bunch of instruments and maybe some rock to make an upbeat song?”

“Huh? A hybrid?” questions Ranmaru, with his brow up and uncertainty on his face.

“Yeah! Isn’t that a good idea?” Reiji says, turning to Ranmaru with a bright smile. With a look of a bit of shock from the outward enthusiasm that radiates off of Reiji, Ranmaru moves to open his mouth. 

_Knock! Knock!_

The four look up from their spots to the front door. Reiji flicks his eyes up to the wall clock and gets up to get the door. He opens it to find a group of girls clutching instruments, sheet music and bags in their arms. Looking up at him they all gasp, star-stricken. 

“K-kotobuki-senpai!” 

Reiji puts on a smile and the girls blush furiously.

“Is there something can I help you girls with?” Reiji asks pleasantly to one of the girls at the front of the door.

Slightly dazed, the girl reponds, eyes darting to her feet with intense fascination, a heat spreading across her face. “T-the room. I’m sorry but we have the room booked for this time!” she squeaks. A pause of silence washes over.

“Ah, is it that time already?” Reiji replies with a laugh, “Sorry! We’ll just quickly clean up, grab our stuff and go! So just wait right there!”

“Ah! P-please take your time!” the girl stutters.

Reiji closes the front door on the group and inwardly sighs. They were finally just getting started too. He hears a door behind him open and he turns around to see Ranmaru leaving the room through the backdoor with Ai and Camus following closely behind. Reiji drops his hand from the doorknob. Well if they all agreed on one thing, this would be it.

_______

It was just before 4 pm and the start of Ranmaru’s last class of the day, a music business course. While it was surprisingly quite interesting, it also was very dry at the same time with many readings. Not exactly the best combination with a guy who could fall asleep in the blink of an eye if he did say so himself. Ranmaru pulled out a chair from the connected table and sat down in the lecture hall, closing his eyes. 

Not too long later, a hand on his shoulder shook him awake. 

“Going to sleep? Ran-chan, the class is about to start soon,” a soothing voice came from above. Ranmaru’s eyes opened, looking up to see Jinguji Ren standing behind him with a smile and Hijirikawa Masato sitting a seat away.

“Ren,” Ranmaru greeted, stretching his body in the small seat as Ren sat beside him.

“Good afternoon, Kurosaki-san,” Masato smiled, “Today is a bit cold outside isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” replied Ranmaru, facing the two. 

Winter. While it wasn’t quite winter yet, it would only be a matter of time before the seasons changed while they had their head stuck in books. Which reminded him, he needed to pickup a new pair of gloves. While he didn’t look the type, he actually took a lot of care for his hands. His bass was his life, so the last thing he needed was dry and chapped hands that came with the season. He loaned his last pair to Reiji and it disappeared into oblivion. His eyebrows twitch as he remembers in annoyance.

Light footsteps run up the stairs, a little bit out of breath as they run down the aisle and almost trips while placing a stack of music sheets on the table beside Ranmaru. The sheets threaten to fall off the table from the impact but Ranmaru quickly holds them down before they fall.

“Ah, thank you! And good afternoon, Kurosaki-senpai!” the voice greets warmly, a bit bashful.

“Good afternoon Haruka,” Ranmaru replies, securing all of her notes in place.

“Good afternoon, little lamb. You’re just in time. Did you get lost again on your way here?” Ren asks.

“Y-yes,” Haruka replies, dejected. The three side-eye each other, all aware of Haruka’s innate lack of direction. 

“Then,” Masato speaks up, “would you like one of us to pick you up next time? Your last class was composition in the Music Hall right?”

“Right, like Hijirikawa said,” Ren continued, “either of us will be in the area so we could always come to class together. Right, Ran-chan?” Ranmaru hummed in approval.

Haruka visibly lit up. “Really? Thank you!” she beamed. Sitting down a setting her notes aside, she pulls out her laptop, ready for class.

“Ah, Kurosaki-senpai,” Haruka starts turning to face him, “about Kotobuki-senpai… Is there something wrong with him lately?”

“Hmm?” It’s the first time he’s heard of this. Ranmaru raises his brow questioningly. “Something wrong with Reiji? What do you mean?”

“Ah, it’s ok!” Haruka replies, a little bit flustered. “It’s ok if everything is fine but… Lately Kotobuki-senpai has been a bit hard to reach. Some of the other students in my class were a little worried since they needed a bit of his help on some work. I was just wondering if he’s been doing alright.”

“Come to think of it,” Ren adds, “Bukki hasn’t been hanging out with us lately either.”

“Yes,” Masato agrees, “I think the last time we saw him was when we grabbed lunch with everyone two weeks ago.”

Ranmaru looks at the distraught girl. “I didn’t notice anything wrong when I saw him in class this morning but Reiji’s probably fine, just caught up in some stuff like usual. If you want, after class you can come over to talk with him yourself.” Ranmaru offers.

“Is that ok? Thank you very much! I’ll come!” Haruka responds with vigor, a bright smile on her face. No less than a minute later, the lecture hall’s microphone comes to life, and the students shuffle. The lecture begins. Facing the front, Ranmaru listens.

_____

Opening the solid metal doors and walking into the cold, brisk, open air. The sky was long dark after the two hour lecture and the four friends shuffle in the cold wind.

“It’s cold!” Haruka exclaims as a wind passes by them.

“It is,” Ren agrees, looking worryingly at Haruka. “Where are you guys heading off to now? Hijirikawa and I have a meeting with the rest of the gang for a new song so we’ll be going to the Student Centre.”

“I’m gonna go home. Haruka, you’re coming too right?” Ranmaru asks, glancing down at her.

“Y-yes! I’m coming!” Haruka affirms. 

“Then we’ll see you tomorrow then, Nanami,” Masato smiles. “Have a good evening, Kurosaki-san!”

“Yeah, you too.”

“Have a good night!”

The four parted ways at their campus quad, braving the bitter wind. Ranmaru and Reiji’s apartment was rather close to the university, only a twenty minute walk away. Reiji found it and said it was a great deal, getting Ranmaru to sign with him before letting him look at anything else. He paid Reiji $400 a month for their shared apartment, who then in turn paid the landlord. Reiji paid for the cable though, he was addicted to his dramas.

Stepping into the lobby of the apartment, the pair faced each other, faces pink from being beaten by the wind. 

“You ok?” Ranmaru asked as they walked together to the elevator, stepping in. 

“Yes,” Haruka replied, patting her windblown hair into place. “It was quite windy outside, wasn’t it?”

Ranmaru hummed in agreement. 

“I hope I’m not intruding,” Haruka worries, a little bit after the fact.

“You’ll be fine,” Ranmaru reassures, looking for his keys in his pocket.

They stepped out together and walked down the hall in silence. Ranmaru pulls out his keys and opens the door. They step inside and immediately Ranmaru hears a female moan in the kitchen area. Warning bells go off in his head and he’s got a really bad feeling about this.

“Kotobuki-senpai…?”

Ranmaru turns his head towards the kitchen and can see, just over the couch, a head of blonde and her pale ass in view, bouncing on Reiji’s cock. Reiji brings up a hand to squeeze over her hips and he brings her down his length with more force. Even though Reiji was mostly covered, Ranmaru could feel Reiji’s burning concentration from the few meters away by the door. Fondling her breast Reiji whispers into her ear and she melts in his hand like putty. 

“Ngh-ah!” The girl cries with pleasure, which snaps Ranmaru out from his thoughts. He turns around and pushes Haruka out the door, who was frozen at the entrance way from shock. He closes the door behind him and puts on an apologetic face towards the blushing girl in front of him. He clears his throat.

“Ah, sorry you had to see that,” he apologizes dryly, scratching his head. “Looks like you’ll have to comeback some other time to talk to him.”

“Ah, no! No! It’s fine!” Haruka waves her hands, embarrassed. “It was just a bad time!”

They stare at each other awkwardly, vaguely aware of the actions behind the door. Ranmaru breaks the silence. 

“Uh, I’ll walk you back do-“ A piano piece suddenly starts playing in the hall, filling up the space. It goes on for a couple of bars, crescendos and decrescendos in a pleasant and quite captivating piece, before Ranmaru can’t help but ask.

“… Is that your ringtone?”

“Eh? Y-yes!” Haruka suddenly realizes and franticly fishes for her phone in her bag. The piano piece follows the scene like an epic race of time that suddenly speeds up in tempo. She finally unearths it from the contents in her bag and quickly receives the call.

“Hello? Ah, Tomo-chan!” Haruka brightens, “sorry! I just changed my ringtone yesterday so I almost didn’t pick up!”

Ranmaru watches her apologize and thinks about if he wants to go back inside. Yeah, no thanks. He would rather die than go back into that devil’s nest. The thought about going back outside irritates him but as he weighs the pros and cons of staying in the apartment, outside is starting to look like a sanctuary. 

“Ah, I’ll ask him! Yeah, ok. I’ll see you soon! Bye!” Haruka chirps as she hangs up and looks up to Ranmaru. 

“Tomo-chan and I had plans to meet up for dinner. It’s a bit early but Ranmaru-senpai, would you like to join us?” Haruka offers.

A bit surprised at the offer, Ranmaru gives his door one last glance and locks up.

“I’ll come.” 

Haruka smiles.

_______

“Harukaaa!!” a voice cries and a bright red crashes into Haruka. 

“Tomo-chan!” Haruka laughs, holding her in an embrace.

Tomochika kisses her girlfriend on the cheek and grabs her by the hand, leading her away. “Are you doing ok? I’ve got a table right over there,” she points at the back of the diner by the window. She turns back to Ranmaru, “Hello, Ranmaru-senpai!”

“Hey,” he greets. He nods his head to the manager and follows the girls to the table. The diner is busy and turning out fresh food at every minute, Ranmaru’s quite surprised that Tomochika managed to get a spot so quickly. They scan over the menus before them.

“Ranmaru-senpai works here right?” Haruka asks, glancing over the menu to meet his eyes. “Is there anything you would recommend?”

The diner he worked at was really popular amongst the students at SAU. It was close by, cheap and just outright delicious. Hearty all day breakfasts, packed club sandwiches, sugary creamy milkshakes, but of course the best item on the menu was…

“Meat,” he replied. “The hamburgers here are really good.”

“As expected of Ranmaru-senpai,” Tomochika laughed, “Haruka, just get anything, all the food here is great.”

After a bit of deliberation, they finally take their orders and get settled in. Ranmaru glances outside the window, just watching the world for no particular reason. 

“Haruka,” Ranmaru can hear Tomochika say, “In your text, weren’t you going to meet up with Kotobuki-senpai? Were you able to talk properly in such a short time?”

“Eh, well uh…” Haruka trialed, a faint blush on her face as she recalls the memory. “K-kotobuki-senpai was… um… ”

“He was with a girl,” Ranmaru replied, turning back to the two.

Looking at Haruka’s expression and listening to Ranmaru’s words, Tomochika put two and two together and her brain clicked. 

“O-oh, well… It looks like you’ll have to find him some other time then! Don’t worry, I’m sure it’ll work out next time!” she reassured, holding on to Haruka’s hand with Haruka nodding along.

“Well, in any case, I can let him know what you were going to tell him when I get back if you want,” Ranmaru offered, taking a bit of pity for the girl.

“Ranmaru-senpai….” Haruka looks at her hands, intertwined with Tomochika’s before looking back up to reach his eyes. “Kotobuki-senpai is one of the TAs for my Music Cognition course. We have a symposium and a major presentation coming up in the next few weeks. Kotobuki-senpai does his work very well and is very helpful but still, everyone is really stressed. Kotobuki-senpai is getting a bit harder and harder to reach unless we find him in person. And finding him in person is a little….” 

Ranmaru hummed. “That’s not like him,” he notes.

“Yes,” Haruka reluctantly agrees.

Ranmaru sighs. What was Reiji doing? Neglecting his underclassmen was something he never did; in fact he was praised and acknowledged many times for his involvement with the development of his peers. 

“Got it, I’ll tell him to get back to you and find some time to talk to your classmates then.” Ranmaru says, giving Haruka a pat on the head for assurance. Haruka gives Ranmaru a soft smile in return but a worried expression lingers on her features.

“Thank you. Haruka was really stressed about this over the last few days. If Ranmaru-senpai can do that, it’ll take a lot off her shoulders.” Tomochika thanks gratefully.

A peaceful silence returns to the table, the chatter in the diner as a soft background ambiance. The warm, soothing atmosphere threatens to make Ranmaru’s eyes droop, the classical music in the diner spinning on its wheels. Nursing the water in front of him, he glances back out the window to see the first specks of white drift from the sky.

Unable to take it any longer, Haruka squeezes Tomochika’s hand, faces the older man in front of her and opens her mouth.

“Is it really okay?” she blurts out, eyes full of worry as she faces Ranmaru who has now turned back to her direction, with a surprised expression from the outburst.

“Huh? What are you talking about?” Ranmaru replies, slightly aghast.

“Ranmaru-senpai… You like Kotobuki-senpai don’t you? Is it really okay?” Haruka asks, deflating from her sudden courage. 

Oh. That. Ranmaru’s face scrunches a little from the thought. While his interest in Reiji wasn’t exactly a secret amongst his friends, he made them all swear to never tell the man himself. Ren and Natsuki occasionally nudged him to confess with hearts in their eyes but he always took it with a grain of salt. Ranmaru wasn’t looking for love. Numb from the feeling, he sometimes wondered if he really did see Reiji like that.

“It’s fine,” he replied. “Reiji is free to do whatever he likes. If he wants to sleep with girls, it’s not my problem. Reiji probably doesn’t even like me in that way anyways.” He looks down at the sullen face. 

“But” Haruka interjects, “Ranmaru-senpa-“

“It’s better this way. Don’t ask me about this anymore.”

Ranmaru wasn’t looking for love, he only wanted to be by the side of the one who brought a little bit of light into his world.

Ending the conversation, he sits with a nonchalant face and as if the world was on his side, the waitress arrives and sets down their meal.

____

“Drive one today at your local car dealer!” the man behind the screen promotes cheerfully. Reiji spoons a mouthful of cereal into his mouth, the channel just reached commercials for his favourite Tuesday night historical drama. He hears a rustle and soon the lock of the apartment clicks and Reiji’s head perks up with a smile. As the door opens he greets cheerfully.

“Ranran! Welcome back!”

The man comes through the door and Reiji can see, windswept hair and a face red from cold, on his shoulders there seemed to be a few flecks of white as he started to take off his jacket.

“Is it snowing outside?” Reiji asks, slightly surprised. It was November. While not unheard of in their area, the first sign of snow was the cue that summer really wasn’t coming back.

“Yeah,” Ranmaru confirms, walking into the kitchen. Reiji moves towards the window beside him and spreads open the blinds. Sure enough, there was a thin veil of snow blanketing the ground. Reiji hums and turns back to face his roommate.

“What’s with that face?” Ranmaru questions rather bluntly, an eyebrow raised in curiosity.

Reiji with a bashful expression, delicately places a hand on his cheek where a bandage laid and chuckled. 

“Ah, the girl I was with slapped me after realizing you came in on us earlier,” he confessed.

“That’s what you get, doing it in the hall,” Ranmaru replied, hand on his hip.

“So mean!” Reiji pouts half-heartedly. He watches Ranmaru linger a bit longer before the silver-haired man turns back to face him.

“Haruka and everyone else was worried about you. They haven’t seen you in a while. She said you’re hard to reach and that your underclassmen have been looking for you. I don’t know what’s going on, but get a grip.” Ranmaru relays.

“Also, apologize to her for making her see that. It’s enough that I have to see it already, don’t put her through that too,” he added.

“Ah, sorry! So she was the one with you earlier. I’ll text her and apologize real quick! Thanks!” Reiji pulls out his phone, swiping through his contacts. He moves to make room on the couch for Ranmaru but when he looks up, Ranmaru’s back faces him, already heading back to his room. The jingle for the continuation of the television drama starts up and interrupts Reiji from his thoughts. His eyes glance back over to the screen, and a door closes in the distance with the sound of a bass playing slowly after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Story notes:  
> \- Jinguji and Hijirikawa are also doing double majors in buisness and are fast tracking. Haruka was convinced by Jinguji to take the course to learn more about the music industry.  
> \- The STARISH members all have classes with Haruka
> 
> __________
> 
> Finally, the new chapter is here! It was surprisingly very hard to write! I don't love this chapter that much but I've been working on it for so long that I've given up and just released it.
> 
> So, so many writing blocks in this chapter. Camus is such a hard character for me to write, even though I know exactly what he's going to do. Ai isn't an exception. Hijirikawa is also hard because of how formal he can be but Ren is convenient. So is Haruka.
> 
> The good news is, I've planned out the story to the end. The bad news is, a plot bunny jumped into my head and is threatening to throw some of my plans out the window. I need a solid grip on this story asap. The end has been decided but the road to pave it is tough and always changing.
> 
> Anyways, like always, thank you for reading! I can't guarantee that the next update will be soon but I'll try my best!


	3. Ignorance is Bliss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Happy new year! This chapter came out a lot later than expected! I initially wanted to have it done for Christmas but that didn't happen and now it's a week after the new year.
> 
> But, that being said, the first 2 chapters combined was 6868 words and now with chapter 3, it's over 16k. Welcome to this not so, but almost 10k monster.
> 
> Warnings!  
> This chapter contains: implied drunk driving and driving under the influence, drug use, homophobic comments, dubious consent
> 
> Please do not drink and drive. Drink responsibly and call a cab if you do not have a designated driver. Drunk driving is a serious issue so please be safe, even if this fic undermines it.
> 
> If there are any other warnings or triggers I've missed, please let me know and I will add them here!

“Rei-chan, listen!” 

It’s just past noon and Reiji’s hearing out his friend’s troubles while casually eating a bite of pasta. It’s bustling and packed in the student centre food court with students of all kinds quickly grabbing lunch for the day before the start of their next class. Reiji has a steaming container of fresh spaghetti and meatballs, a fork twirled in pasta. 

“My ex is _still_ calling and texting me! I don’t know what to do,” Rumi said with a sullen look on her face. “He keeps on asking his friends to check up on me or goes to places he can find me and it’s really annoying! I don’t know if I should go out anymore because of him and all my roommates are so worried if he’ll show up at my door one day.” She looks like she’s about to cry in the middle of the food court and Reiji mentally wonders if he has a pack of tissues on hand.

“Hmm… Rumi-chan, you and your ex have broken up for 3 months or so now right? If your ex hasn’t taken a hint yet and is still bothering you, maybe it’s time to talk to the police?” Reiji suggests. “This can get really serious if it’s not handled properly.”

“N-no!” Rumi rejects desperately, eyes wide, “I can’t call the police! If my parents found out, I’ll get into so much trouble! I can’t do that! I really, really can’t! Please Rei-chan, could you talk to him?”

Reiji at a loss for words, tries to turn down the request. He didn’t know why Rumi didn’t want to talk to the police, but at this point its been a few months and for his friend’s sake, he was going to call for her sooner rather than later.

“But Rumi-chan, I’ve called him before and he’s still contacting you. Are you sure you don’t want to talk to the police? I’m sure your parents would rather you be safe than get mad at you.”

“Please Rei-chan!” Rumi begged, blinking back tears as her eyes peered up into his. “Please just this one last time! Just pretend to be my boyfriend or something! If he thinks that I’m taken, then maybe he’ll stop!”

Reiji with a resigned look on his face, sighs. He looks at the scared girl in front of him and cracks a soft smile. “Okay, just this last time. If he continues, even if you don’t like it, I’m going to call the police, alright Rumi-chan?” Reiji said sternly.

Rumi’s face blooms and a grateful smile spreads wide on her face.

“Thank you Rei-chan!” she thanks appreciatively.

Reiji smiles back and the world is at peace again.

\---

“Ah, Rei-chan! Here!” A voice calls out as Reiji enters the lecture hall. Reiji turns his head to face a bright-faced boy with flaming red hair who was sitting a few rows up the hall.

“Otoyan!” Reiji calls as he makes his way up the side stairs, facing the boy, “Good afternoon!~ You too, Tokki!” he addresses the stoic friend sitting beside Otoya with a wave.

“Good afternoon Kotobuki-senpai,” Tokiya greets warmly, “you seem to be in a good mood today.”

“Of course! Reiji winks, “today is Friday afterall! After this tutorial, I’m done for the day! I’m going to head over Mel’s later, wanna join?” 

“Yeah!” Otoya replies cheerfully, jumping from his seat. “Tokiya, you’re coming too right?”

“Well if it’s no trouble, I don’t mind coming.” Tokiya agrees. 

“Ok! Then it’s settled!” Reiji says, waving a finger at the two.

“Ah, Kotobuki-senpai! You made it!” a female voice calls him from behind. Reiji turns around to see Haruka, clutching her books with Natsuki and Syo following closely behind. 

“Kohai-chan, good afternoon! Looks like today you came with Nattsun and Syotan, huh?”

“Yes!” she beamed. She seems to hesitate a bit before opening her mouth again. “As for the other day, sorry for bothering you when you were busy, I ended up relying on Ranmaru-senpai to get into contact with you. I should have texted instead!” Haruka apologized, head down in a bow.

“No! No! Don’t apologize Kohai-chan! Keep your head up! That was all my fault! And don’t worry about Ranran,” Reiji smiles. “He was really mad for you so I really need to do better next time. I got hit by the girl you see, and all Ranran said was ‘that’s what you get’! Don’t you think that’s mean?” His arm raised up in a shrug pretending to be upset.

Haruka with a worried look on her face. “Did I make you two fight? I’m so sorry,” she replied dejectedly.

“Ah, I’m sorry Kohai-chan! It was a joke! It was a joke so don’t worry about it! And really, please don’t apologize, Ranran and I are always like this!” Reiji frantically apologizes, trying to dispel her worries.

“Bukki, teasing little lamb like that… You know she falls for everything you say,” Ren’s voice comes from above with a hint of a chuckle. Reiji turns around to see Ren and Masato in their seats, just above Otoya and Tokiya, faces a little red from the cold outside.

“Renren, good afternoon,” Reiji greets, deflating looking up at Ren’s smiling face. Tilting his head, he faces Masato and calls out with a smile, “good afternoon, Hijirin!”

“Good afternoon Kotobuki-senpai,” Masato greets with a smile.

Reiji looks at his phone and checks the time. 2:02. He should start the tutorial now. He looks back at Haruka who has largely recovered from her worries and gives her a soft smile.

“Kohai-chan, why don’t you take a seat? I’m not going to tease you anymore so don’t worry~ Don’t worry! I’m about to start the tutorial so we can get the party started!” he says excitedly.

He gives her one last wink and goes up to the front of the class while she hurries to a seat somewhere amongst her friends. Standing at the podium at the front of the lecture hall, he faces a class of about 120 students. He grabs his notes from his bag and is just about to start the tutorial when the front door slams open. Surprised, Reiji turns towards the sound to see Cecil at the door, extremely out of breath, his hunched body grasping the door handle, and his backpack barely hanging on his arm. Cecil looks up and sees Reiji at the front of the class and immediately straightens up. 

“S-so sorry Reiji-senpai!” the poor boy apologizes and quietly closes the door behind him.

“You okay there, Cesshi?” Reiji asks concerned. Cecil rapidly shakes his head yes as he ascends the stairs to take a spot in the class. He’s not too sure but Reiji can vaguely hear the name Camus being spat out like a curse from the gentle boy’s lips. 

“Well, now that everyone is settled in, I’m going to start the tutorial!” Reiji says turning back to the class, “so I just want to start by giving you all some feedback from the prof on your last midterm. He thinks that overall you’re all doing very good but you need to have your theory and core concepts down solid. The final exam is coming up in a few weeks so make sure you review properly! You can see your marks on the portal in a few days and you can talk to me about any of the questions for further clarification. If you have problems with the marking, go find the prof, not me. I won’t be able to do anything for you, okay?”

“As for your symposium and presentation,” Reiji continues, “remember it is 35% of your final grade. You also need to have your topic approved by me first so make sure to run what you have so far with me today! No topics that can be solved with the power of friendship or fantasy powers! You need a topic that can be backed up with real empirical evidence and research! If you can’t talk to me today or I don’t get to you before this tutorial ends, you can always send me an email or find me during my office hours!”

“That being said,” Reiji asks with his hands on his hips, “is there anyone who would like to talk to me first?”

“Yes!” Natsuki replies enthusiastically with his arm up in the air.

“Hey, Natsuki! I told you that I was going to go first!” Syo nudged at Natsuki who was softly chuckling. “Hey, you’re not listening are you?” Syo asked with a deadpan expression.

“Alright, so Nattsun and Syotan, you two are up first!” Reiji laughs, and he lightly taps the whiteboard behind him. “Everyone else come up to the board and write your name! I’ll call you up one by one so until you get called by me, work on your topics, okay? I want to see you all at least once in these 2 hours!” 

\---

_Buzz buzz_

Ranmaru’s phone vibrates in his pocket with an incoming text. He pulls out his flip phone and flicks it open. He’s on break right now, just after the lunch rush where he could finally grab a bite to eat and eat one of Mel’s famous and delicious burgers. He sat amongst his other coworkers who were also taking a break at the back.

With a mostly eaten triple decker burger in one hand and his phone in the other, he opens his mail as he casually eats. It’s from his buddy Yuuya, part-timer at the university bar – Shine. Every so often he’d hook Ranmaru up with a couple of shifts if the bar got really busy. Ranmaru has a vague idea already what Yuuya wanted but checks the message anyways. It’s short and to the point like always. Without the frills, Ranmaru preferred it this way.

 **Yuuya:** Ran, you free? Need some help tonight for Shine Friday. Lmk

Shine Friday. The once a month event at Shine where booze was discounted, lines were packed and even the most reclusive of students came to get smashed. Ranmaru winced and pinched the bridge of his forehead just thinking about dealing with drunk uni students hollering at him for drinks behind a counter for the rest of the night. Fuck no, Ranmaru did not want to do that. He’d rather stew at home and do his laundry or something. Fresh warm clothes were no joke.

Ranmaru scratched his head and groaned. 5 more weeks. 5 more weeks till the term ended. 5 more weeks till projects were due and exams began. He was on a full scholarship so he had to ace them to maintain his average, which meant cutting work hours to study. If he couldn’t work at the diner, then he’d need to figure out his food bill for a bit. There was only so much food he could steal from Reiji without feeling bad. Reiji wouldn’t mind though, but he would really rather not. Which meant he needed the money. Fuck. There was no getting out of it, he was going to Shine tonight.

Ranmaru breathed a long sigh. He could hear his manager yell something from the kitchen and Ranmaru popped the rest of his burger into his mouth before quickly firing a text back to Yuuya. Cleaning up his mess and washing his hands, he walked back up to the front and put his apron around his waist to get back to work. 

Ranmaru liked working in the kitchen, flipping burgers, prepping salads, frying things, making drinks. It was fun and a great way for him to improve his own cooking skills. There was nothing quite like working by the heat of a fire and it always pumped him up. But, his manager thought otherwise. While Mel’s had some permanent staff in key positions, part-timers like Ranmaru were forced to change roles every other day to “learn something new” and “explore”, regardless of how long they had worked there. Ranmaru was on waitstaff today and he seriously had no idea why his manager still put him up front when he greeted guests with a face that looked like a frown and frightened the crap out of customers.

Putting his hand on his hip while leaning on the counter, Ranmaru watched his section with mild interest, as the diner was sparse with people there who only stayed back chatting after a late lunch. It was a bit early for the dinner rush but he would be done by then anyways. He fights back the urge to yawn, as his eyes begin to droop from boredom. His manager was a good guy and he himself was a good worker, that being said, Ranmaru would rather be busy than stand around. Any yawns that escaped him and was caught by his manager was met with worried looks and more than anything, Ranmaru did not need his manager to worry about him or cut his hours. The last time that happened, Ranmaru’s manager sent him home and let him take the week off to “recoup”, thinking that Ranmaru’s multiple jobs and school had worn him down.

Shaking his head and looking down at a spot on the floor, he hears the front door open and murmurs at the entrance. His section was at the back so it wasn’t likely that any new entrants would sit there without filling up the front or popular window seats first. Window seats spanned from the front to the back of the diner which let in a good amount of natural light, which made it a very popular study spot for students. Even with winter at the doorstep and the sun long down, the cosy atmosphere lent itself to be a haven for students to escape the cold for as long as they needed. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Ranmaru sees the new group of people sit down at a window booth. Right in the middle of his section. Table 20. A little annoyed, he half contemplates why they would do that as he looks up to see Reiji sitting on one side of the booth, smiling wide and waving at him like a mad man with Otoya equally as energetic and Tokiya sitting calmly on the other side. 

He must have a shocked look on his face because he’s frozen in his spot until he sees Reiji open his mouth. Which makes him instantly snap out of his shock and instinctively move to cover his mouth.

“Ranran!~ Over her- mmf!” Reiji starts before his voice is muffled by a flustered Ranmaru who literally dashed from one end of the restaurant to the other to shut his friend’s mouth.

“Shut up Reiji! Don’t yell here,” Ranmaru reprimands as he removes his hand from Reiji’s face while shooting him a dirty look.

“Ahaha, but Ranran, you looked so distracted that I didn’t know if you saw me or not,” Reiji tries to reason with little shame.

“Ranmaru senpai, hello!” Otoya greets cheerfully.

“Good afternoon, thanks for your hard work today, Kurosaki-san,” Tokiya says with a smile on his face.

Ignoring Reiji and facing Otoya and Tokiya, Ranmaru places a hand on his hip and pulls out a pad of paper from his apron with his other. “Thanks,” he replies. “So, what do you want?”

“The pancake special please! With hashbrowns and sausages!” Otoya orders with a twinkle in his eye as Ranmaru scratches down the order.

“Otoya, eating from the breakfast menu at this hour? Will that be ok?” Tokiya asks.

“It’s ok! I’ll just play some soccer at the gym later! Also they have an all day breakfast menu for a reason you know?” Otoya replies brightly turning to Tokiya at his side.

With a bit of a huff, Tokiya looks up at a waiting Ranmaru and places his order with a soft smile, “I’ll take a club sandwich platter, with a salad and the dressing on the side.”

Ranmaru hums in response before turning to Reiji, raising his eyebrow expectantly. 

“I’ll take a Mel’s special with home fries!” Reiji decides, pointing a finger at the sky towards Ranmaru. 

“How many patties?” Ranmaru asks, scribbling down the order.

“2 would be good. Make me a really yummy burger, okay, Ranran?” Reiji replies in a sing-song voice with a wink.

“If I’m out here, I’m not flipping your burger idiot,” Ranmaru retorts with his arms crossed. “Anything to drink?” He asks before he turns in the order.

“A coffee, please!”

“I’ll take a tea.”

“Um, could I have a cola?”

“Okay,” Ranmaru replies absently, taking down the last requests before taking the menus off the table and walking to the front counter to put in the order.

After inputting the order, he pours out the ordered drinks and places them on a tray along with their accompaniments. Lifting the tray with an arm, he walks back over to the table with the three engaged in light chatter. Ranmaru places the cup of coffee in front of Reiji and puts down a small pot of cream on the side with a container that held sugars and sweeteners in front of him and Tokiya. He then places the tea on a saucer and a teapot in front of Tokiya with milk on the side. Lastly, he puts a chilled glass of coke on a napkin by Otoya with a straw placed down on the table.

“Thank you Ranran,” Reiji says smiling up at him, shifting down the bench and patting it to tell Ranmaru to sit down beside him.

“I’m working,” Ranmaru says, shaking his head to decline the invitation.

“Hmm. Then,” Reiji asks, “when do you get off?” 

“In about an hour and a half,” Ranmaru replies, slinging the tray to rest on his shoulder. 

Reiji pulls out his smartphone from his pocket and turns in on, flipping to his calendar as he scans it. “Hmm… How about after we spend-” 

“I’ve got something after so I’m going home.”

Reiji stops scrolling through his calendar and stares at his phone. After a bit of a pause, Reiji looks back with a soft smile. “Want to walk back together then?”

Ranmaru looks at Reiji’s neutral face and for once he can’t really read what’s on his mind. His face was normally an open book, even if his energy was a bit excessive, but when Reiji cooled down, Ranmaru felt like he was looking straight into a pool of water. A pool of water that was deep and dark. If you ran your hand through it, it would be viscous like molasses and make slow ripples. It bothers him a bit but Reiji being an enigma to almost everyone around him was no secret. Almost everyone, but not him. Well at least, that’s what he thought.

“Sure I guess,” he agrees before realizing it.

“Another job, Kurosaki-san?” Tokiya asks politely, breaking Ranmaru away from Reiji’s gaze. 

He’s already forgotten that Otoya and Tokiya were at the table as he looks at them like he’s seeing them for the first time.

“Huh? Y-yeah, something at Shine tonight,” he replies, quickly gathering himself together.

“Ah, tonight is Shine Friday! Tokiya, maybe we should ask everyone to go tonight?” Otoya suggested.

“Otoya, weren’t you the one who suggested that we have a movie night at Ren’s place tonight?” Tokiya reminded, “we still need to buy drinks to bring over.”

“Ahaha, I forgot,” Otoya laughed bashfully with a finger lightly scratching his cheek.

“A movie night, huh?” Reiji asked, perking up, “that sounds like fun!”

“Rei-chan, why don’t you join us too?” Otoya offers enthusiastically.

“Nope, no can do! Sorry Otoyan! Onii-san has plans tonight too,” Reiji replies.

“I see…” Otoya say dejectedly. “Then maybe next time?”

“Of course!” Reiji agrees, “we should all get together! Ah, maybe at the end of exams? As your senpai and TA, I won’t let you fail your exams if we have too much fun beforehand!~”

“Yeah! We should do that!” Otoya brightens up with an infectious smile on his face.

Ranmaru doesn’t realize he’s also smiling until he turns around and drops his tray from his shoulder when he hears the kitchen bell ring, a voice yelling ‘Table 20!’

\---

“A movie night, huh?” Reiji sighs into the air, “do you think if we host one at our place, Aiai and Myu-chan would come?” Reiji turns around to face Ranmaru exiting the diner. Tokiya and Otoya left a while earlier to run to the convenience store, frantic as they realized that they would be late if they sat talking for any longer. They paid for their food and ran out so fast that it left Reiji buckling in laughter only moments before.

“No way,” Ranmaru rejects flatly, putting on his jacket and zipping it up. “That stuck up ass would never come and Ai would probably ruin the ending of every movie before we even get 10 minutes in.”

“Hmm, maybe. But Ranran, even if it’s not a movie night, don’t you think it would be great if the 4 of us got along better?” Reiji asks with a bit of hope in his voice.

“Huh? I don’t really care, we’re just classmates,” Ranmaru said, starting to walk in the direction of their apartment complex without waiting.

“Don’t say that! We’re a team! No matter how you look at it, together we make some really great music!” Reiji insists, walking quickly to catch up. “I think we’ll be together for much longer than just this term, so wouldn’t a bit of bonding be a good thing?”

“Yeah, good luck with that,” Ranmaru huffs nonchalantly, staring at the sidewalk in front of him. They walk in silence as the streetlights illuminate the street. Every breath they take is white under the stark black air and Ranmaru pulls his jacket zipper a little higher to the top.

“Ranran, it’s getting a bit cold out, do you have a scarf?” Reiji asks, glancing at the man beside him. 

“I’m fine, but you still have my gloves you took from me for your ski trip or something in February.” 

“Ah, I forgot!” Reiji exclaims, apologizing with his hands in front of him, “I’ll find them for sure or I’ll buy you another pair! This weekend! I swear, I promise I’ll get you something!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Before long, they turned onto their street and arrived at the lobby of their apartment. Taking the elevator, they headed up to their apartment, the warm heating thawing their chilled bodies. Reiji opens the lock to their door and lets them in. It’s just before 6 pm and Ranmaru’s shift at Shine was set to begin at 8. At least this gave him a bit of time to eat something and maybe do a bit of laundry or take a nap before he had to go.

He sees Reiji go into his room briefly before coming back out with his car keys in his hand. Ranmaru raises his eyebrow questioningly, seeing Reiji going out again so soon. 

“I’m going out for a drive, want to come?” Reiji asks. “Ah but you have your job to go to…” he says trailing off.

“Nah I’m just gonna eat something, maybe do some stuff and go. Shift’s at 8,” Ranmaru declines.

“I see,” Reiji replies, “then I’ll see you tomorrow. Kei-chan’s been bugging me to go to this house party since forever so I’m going to indulge him tonight and go. You know Kei-chan right?”

Ranmaru shook his head no in response and walked away to the kitchen. If he knew all of Reiji’s acquaintances, he would probably suddenly have hundreds of new people in his life. Reiji watches him leave and with a quick shrug of his shoulders, he opens the door and heads back out.

\---

Buttoning up a freshly ironed black dress shirt, Ranmaru was ready to go after touching up his makeup that slightly smudged after a brief nap. The work attire for Shine was all black, something that was perfectly in line with Ranmaru’s own wardrobe. Ranmaru put on his jacket and flipped off the lights in the apartment, before heading out to grab his bike from the complex’s communal bike rack.

It’s a short distance but in the brisk weather, anyone outside would appreciate a shorter commute. Luckily at the moment, it wasn’t cold enough for snow to stay on the ground just yet, maybe just a bit of ice. Riding through the streets and into the campus quad, Ranmaru rides in between campus buildings to the student centre where Shine was located. It was on the far side of the building, just far enough away from the study rooms on the opposite end. Locking up his bike outside, Ranmaru makes his way through the doors to a large room where students hung around with their friends, making light conversation, gaming or studying. He turned down the hall on his left and went down the stairs that lead into Shine.

Shine operated as a restaurant in the day and evening. While at night, it seamlessly transitioned into a bar in name but more of a pseudo club where lights went off, music boomed and students came to have a great time. Ranmaru made his way to the staff room at the back to unload his jacket. Opening the door he was met face to face with his friend Yuuya.

“Oh hey, you made it,” Yuuya greets. Yuuya. Ash brown hair, tall with a medium build, he was an actor and model at SAU in the theatre department. A handsome face with chiselled features that made even girls from other schools travel to Shine just to see him. Yuuya and Ranmaru first met a year ago when Ranmaru walked through the student centre and was stopped by Yuuya who was recruiting for Shine in the middle of the day. Shine was largely staffed by the student body with high turnovers but, allowed for working students to accommodate their schedules and the odd one or two to pop by for extra shifts when needed.

“Yeah,” Ranmaru replies, opening a locker and hanging his coat inside. He fixed his windswept hair in the mirror attached to the metal door.

Reading from a checklist on the wall, Yuuya flips through. “We need to pick up a couple of shipments from the back and the caf that holds some of the supplies for tonight. Then we’ll prep the garnishes, glasses, grab the ice from the freezer, do an inventory count and then we should be good. We’re opening at 10 like usual.”

“Sounds good,” Ranmaru acknowledges, rolling up his sleeves to prepare for some heavy lifting. Yuuya smiles and heads out the door, propping it open for Ranmaru to follow behind.

\---

“It’s just past here, ah right there,” Keiji says, pointing at a house with flashing lights shining in the sky and the bass of whatever party music that was being blasted could be softly heard down the street inside the car. It was a little bit before 12 am, a time where you could dip into any party without many questions asked.

“I hope this’ll be as good as you’ve been making it out to be,” Reiji laughs with a chuckle, parking his car on the sidewalk, a short walk from the booming house.

“It’ll be great! I know you’ll love it! Beautiful girls, lots to drink, what’s there not to like?” Keiji beamed, hopping out of the passenger seat, “come on, Let’s go!”

Reiji locked up the car and walked down the street along with Keiji, up the driveway of the house. A party that was a free for all that took place every Friday, invitations being word of mouth, you only needed to show up to be let in. Reiji was mildly interested in who was able to host something like this with hundreds of attendees weekly. They didn’t even need to bring their own beer or anything.

Opening the front door and walking in, Reiji’s ears were assaulted with loud booming music, cheering students and a DJ screaming through the speakers littered around the house. At the back of his mind, he feared for his hearing as he was a musician, but with a tug of his hand, he was in before the thought passed through.

Taking a solo cup from the kitchen where kegs, bottles and cans of everything was in plain sight to grab, Reiji hovered around the main attraction at the centre of the table- a huge punch bowl of an unidentifiable concoction. Grabbing the ladle and pouring himself a cup, he takes a drink and after he swallows, he immediately starts coughing from the shear amount of alcohol in the punch, fire burning down his throat. Alright then, looks like he’d have to find something to mix into this drink or else he’d be drunk in half an hour. After bobbing around the kitchen for something to curb the alcohol, he settled for grabbing some hot cider and making his way out of the room. 

Glancing around the main living room, he finds a small standing table that was surprisingly unoccupied. Making his way over, he passes by people who recognize and greet him, stopping for short comments. Despite his popularity, he was the kind that was known more by others because of his reputation than him knowing everyone that talked him. He nurses his drink at the table and is chatting up a few girls who made their way over to him when Keiji finally makes his way out of the kitchen with multiple cups of alcohol and a giddy look on his face. Almost crashing into the table with his stash, Keiji already looks like he’s a bit tipsy.

“Hey, Rei-chan! There you are! I was looking alllll over for you,” Keiji says loosely, leaning on the table looking up at the man in front of him.

“And you look like you’re already down,” Reiji comments with a smile on his face. The girls beside him giggle as if that’s the funniest thing they’ve heard all night.

“Aw, come on! I’m just getting started!” Keiji exclaims, turning around to face the giggling girls. “Don’t listen to him! I’m not done yet!” 

“So,” Reiji starts, facing Keiji, “who’s the host of this party?”

“Ah, that would be…” Keiji looks around on his tippy toes, scanning through the crowd of dancing and mingling people. He points at a man with blond hair at the far end of the house, two rooms down, talking to a small string of people. “Him, that’s Shinji-san. He and his buddy Yu are the hosts.” Keiji puts his arm around Reiji’s shoulder and brings himself closer. “If you talk to him, he might give you something real nice,” he added in a low voice.

“What nice things are you talking about?” Reiji inquires, in a tone just as soft.

Keiji frees himself from Reiji’s shoulder and laughs, buckling back. He pulls out from his pocket a couple of papers and a small bag containing dried leafy plants. “You know, anything and everything. Something that makes you feel good, something that will make your skin crawl, something for sex, he’s got you covered even if you want to hallucinate your pants off or pass out. Shinji-san has something for eeeeveryone.” Keiji drawls with a knowing grin. He finishes rolling his joint and holds it out to Reiji, “Want one?”

“Ah, no thanks, I really can’t,” Reiji declines. He suddenly understands why these parties can sustain themselves despite being a free for all on a weekly basis.

“Aw, come on! Why not?”

“I’m a TA, it’s against my contract,” Reiji says. It’s partially true, but more than that, as an up and coming artist, the last thing he needed was trouble that involved drugs and other substances. Marijuana wouldn’t do anything but he would rather not jump into that hole. He hadn’t told Ranmaru, Ai or Camus yet, but he was secretly in talks with the president to plan a debut, making their little tag team into an official project. He couldn’t screw up his chances now.

“Oh, come on that’s lame,” Keiji cries, the girls at the side booing along with him.

“No can do,” Reiji says with a shrug.

“Fine, you can be a goody-two shoes this time but I bet your roommate would want some,” Keiji says absentmindedly. 

Reiji stares at him, like he had stuffed a sock in his mouth.

“Huh? What are you talking about?” he hesitantly asks.

“You know, your roommate? The guy who looks like he’s a part of a gang and stares down everyone like he owns the place? What’s his name… Kuro… Kurosaki? Well anyways, he looks like he’d be the type of guy to go on some hard stuff. Get him something, I’m sure he’ll thank you,” Keiji says dismissively, turning away to light his joint. 

“Ranran really isn’t like that,” Reiji says, staring into his cup, to a man who was not even really listening to him.

“Where did you find a guy like him to live with anyways? I’m sure you of all people could find someone else to live with. Living with a guy with so many bad rumours around him, yeah I could never do that. Don’t tell me,” Keiji turns rapidly to face Reiji, grabbing his hands and splashing the contents of Reiji’s cup on the floor, “is he threatening you?”

“He’s not,” Reiji assures, swatting Keiji’s hands away with a flick of his wrist. “He’s a good friend from high school,” Reiji replies, unsure if he even needs to justify himself.

“High school? Oh yeah, I forgot even a guy like that must’ve went to school somewhere.”

Reiji winces at his words and just stops himself short from telling Keiji that Ranmaru obviously attended their university and was on a scholarship. He didn’t know what would happen if he let that slip. While he knew Ranmaru was intimidating to the people who didn’t know him, he wasn’t quite sure who had started these so-called rumours against Ranmaru that branded him as something as close to a gang member. 

“Hey, let’s talk about something else,” Reiji offers, diverting the conversation away from his roommate. “Also, you spilled my drink so get me another,” Reiji said, sending Keiji away with a push.

It’ll be something he’d need to look into. He wouldn’t tell Ranmaru about the rumours, he decided. Although he had a feeling Ranmaru probably had an inkling about them already. Even if it was a little bit longer, even if it was only for a few more weeks, he wished that Ranmaru could help old couples at the record store, flip burgers and play his bass in peace.

\---

There was a girl tapping her card at him that he had been purposely ignoring before serving the other guests at the counter. She was drunkenly yelling at her partner about some sob story while trying to flag him for a drink. The night is at its end and Shine was set to close up in an hour. While it was still packed with students, dancing to the music in front of the DJ and lights flashing, the final hour would start to get a bit calmer. Hearing the plastic card hit the counter over and over, irritated, he still continues to serve other guests until he hears a name in her conversation that grabs his attention.

“I don’t know why Rei-chan won’t call me his girlfriend already!” the girl cries into the counter. “I can’t believe he called you and still didn’t introduce me when I asked him to! What do I do? He said he’s even going to call the police next time…”

“Well,” the man beside her tries to console her, “when I talked to him this afternoon, he sounded really worried about you. Maybe just one last push will do it?”

“Ugh, if that worked I wouldn’t be here with you! I don’t know what else to tell him about my ex! Why won’t he just be my boyfriend already?”

Ranmaru slowly walks over to her side of the counter and wipes his work surface with a towel.

“So, what do you want?” Ranmaru asks her nonchalantly. 

“Ugh, finally you’re here!” her brown head shoots up, staring straight at Ranmaru. “A margarita, please.”

Ranmaru wordlessly picks up a chilled margarita glass and begins salting the rim, trying to place a finger on where he’s seen her face before. He can feel the girl’s eyes on him, searching as if she’s trying to do the same.

“Hey, wait a second, aren’t you… Rei-chan’s roommate?” Ranmaru glances up at those words. “Ah, I was right. There’s no way I could forget your detestable face.”

Ranmaru vaguely remembers her now. She’s the one Reiji brought home a month ago that he told off. Not exactly the bashful and timid girl he remembered her being when she was sitting at his kitchen table. Her name was something like Reimi or Ruby or R-something. Not that he bothered to care when Reiji introduced them. He poured the tequila into his cocktail shaker and grabbed the triple sec and lime juice on the side, measuring out the quantities he needed before adding them in as well.

Reimi or Ruby leans over the counter, showing herself off and looks up at Ranmaru’s face. “So,” she proposes, pointing her finger at his chest. “I’ll forgive you for what you said to me that day if you do me one little favour.”

Ranmaru can smell the alcohol in her breath and decides that this is the last drink he’ll make her. If she wanted more, she’d have to go to Yuuya down on the other end of the bar. He shakes the contents in his shaker and then strains the liquid into the glass, grabbing a wedge of lime to garnish the rim.

At his silence, she continues, “So I want you to tell Rei-chan a couple of good things about me and at the same time maybe give him a nudge to make him my boyfriend? If you do that, I’ll introduce you to one of my girlfriends. Heyyy are you listening?”

Ranmaru fights the urge to snap at her and places a napkin on the counter with her margarita on top. Pushing it in her direction, he replies, “if you want to get together with Reiji, do it yourself, I’m not helping you with anything.”

“Why not?!” she cries offended, standing up from the counter, her voice raising significantly in volume. “Didn’t you hear me? I said I would introduce you to one of my friends already! I hate you but we could go on a double date! Why don’t you want to help me?”

Students around the bar start staring and whispering amongst themselves, some even take out their phones to start recording. Aware of the surrounding situation, Ranmaru sighs.

“I’m sorry but I’m going to have to ask you to leave if you keep on yelling,” Ranmaru says coolly, starting to turn to other patrons at the bar.

“Ah ha, Rumi-chan,” her partner finally interjects, looking around them, wary of the on-looking students. “Let’s go? Calm down and here, take your drink with you.” He passes her the margarita and takes her from the shoulders, trying to lead her away.

“No!” Rumi yells, freeing herself from his grasp. “You!” She points at Ranmaru with her drink in hand, “don’t walk away from me!”

She follows him down the bar, pushing other students out of the way. “Why won’t you help me? Why do you have to be like this? Why are you stopping me from being with Rei-chan? I offered you a date and you’re not going to take it? Are you impotent or something?” she bombards him with questions, her volume unrelenting.

“Why are you keeping him away from me? Unless… Don’t tell me,” she says in a lowered voice, “you’re in love with Rei-chan too aren’t you?” Ranmaru stops in his steps and turns to glare at the ballistic girl. Taking his glare as confirmation, she laughs. The commotion around the bar growing louder and louder.

“That’s it isn’t it. Are you kidding me?” she spits, body shaking. She throws the contents of her drink at Ranmaru’s face and throws the glass onto the counter, shattering upon impact. A shocked and collective gasp ripples over the students watching the altercation. The music from the DJ stops and the only thing moving in the bar are the light images dancing on the walls.

“Alright, what’s going on here?” a clear and distinct voice asks. Yuuya rushes over to Ranmaru’s side of the bar, facing the fuming Rumi. Rumi doesn’t answer him and only has her eyes burning on one man.

“Disgusting, disgusting! How does it feel, knowing that you won’t be loved?” she jeers, climbing up onto the counter. “I knew it when I saw the makeup on the floor! Faggot! You ugly, disgusting piece of shit! Did you think getting close to Rei-chan would give you a chance? I’ll throw your fucking words back at you, Rei-chan will never, ever, love you!”

“Hey! Security!” Yuuya calls, dragging her off the counter. Security grabs her and escorts her out as she continues to yell profanities, her partner closely trailing behind. Yuuya grabs a towel and hands it over to Ranmaru for him to wipe his face. “I’ll deal with out here for now, why don’t you go to the back, Ran?” He directs Ranmaru to the staff room and closes the door behind him.

\---

The door creeks open and Yuuya steps inside to see a disgruntled Ranmaru sitting on a chair, towel in hand.

“So we closed a little bit early today. It took a while to clear everyone out and talk to security but it’s ok, the manager said it wasn’t your fault. Girls can be a little crazy sometimes,” he chuckles. Yuuya walks over to Ranmaru and places a drink in front of him. A classic Old Fashioned. “The manager also said you’re welcome to help yourself to any drinks if you need something a little extra.”

“Thanks,” Ranmaru murmured, taking the glass and taking a hefty drink.

“So…” Yuuya says with his arms crossed, leaning back on the lockers, “who’s Rei-chan? You’ve never talked about-“

“None of your business,” Ranmaru replies curtly. He really wasn’t in the mood to entertain anyone or anything right now. Yuuya shrugs with a half smile at Ranmaru’s words and opens his locker.

“Well, if you ever want to talk about it or if you need me, you know how to find me,” Yuuya says, grabbing his jacket. He closes his locker and looks back at Ranmaru who has now finished his drink and was grabbing a can of beer from one of the fridges in the room.

“Thanks for coming tonight Ran, I’ll text you the next time we need you,” Yuuya calls out behind him with a wave and opens the door to leave the room. And with the click of the door, Ranmaru is left alone.

Left alone beside his thoughts, he feels raw, as if all of his nerves have been set on fire. His body is split, he feels like he’s been filleted, splayed open on a table so he can see his blood filling the room. When he breathes, it’s as if the blood has all pooled in his throat, threatening to strangle him. He looks up at the ceiling. Florescent lights blink back and he mindlessly wonders what it would be like to stare at them forever, not moving from his spot, letting his metaphorical blood drown him.

He downs another can of beer and looks at the mess he’s made. Without really knowing, he just finished his 5th and was holding on to a 6th. He puts the can down and stands up, making his way to his locker. He opens it and stares at his reflection. His makeup is smudged again and he looks like a mess, he feels like one too. He grabs his jacket and flicks off the lights, leaving. Ranmaru passes by the manager on the way out who assures him that everything is ok, but he can’t really hear him as he nods absently and walks out of the building. He walks outside and it’s black and white.

The jet black sky hangs above him, the stars dim in the city lights and a light dusting of snow is on the ground. The cold sobers him up a little bit as he walks over to his bike, unlocking it as the white lightly falls around him. He pushes his bike through the snow, past the school buildings on his way back. 

He can hear the cheers of a party somewhere in the streets of the small university town and he decides he’s not drunk enough for this. He didn’t want to hear other people having fun. People he didn’t give a fuck about but pissed him off anyways. He stops by a convenience store and picks up 2 six packs of the strongest thing he can find. He’s going to kick himself in the morning for buying something like this but at this time, he really didn’t care what morning him thought.

\--- 

His hair is wet, washing it out of gel and alcohol; Ranmaru takes off the last bit of his make up that didn’t come off in the shower. He takes out his contact as he prepares himself for a night in front of the tv, drinking until he passes out. He walks out of the washroom in sweats and a tank top with a towel around his shoulder as he sits down on the couch and flips on the television to whatever channel it was on. He cracks open his first can and downs it one gulp. It’s going to be a full night of this and he wasn’t about to stop now. Fucking bitch who thought that they could just run their mouth, there was no way he was going to remain sober to remember the last few hours.

He downs a couple more and lets it sit in his bloodstream, his head getting a bit hazy as he watches some stupid soap being rerun at the late hour. He closes his eyes, laying on the couch, drifting into a soft sleep as he listens to the soft chatter on the screen.

What seems like only 10 minutes later, his ringtone blares and he darts up from the couch. He looks questioningly at the television, which was now showing a completely different show, before scanning around and finding his phone vibrating on the coffee table. His hair is even mostly dry as he combs his fingers through it, picking up his drink and taking a swig before flipping his phone open to check who was calling at the ungodly hour. The name ‘Reiji’ appears on the screen. Ranmaru stares at it for a second longer before accepting the call and putting his phone to his ear.

“Ah, hello? Hello?” a voice asks. It’s not Reiji, Ranmaru notes. Something rustles in the background before the voice talks again. “Hey it says it’s connected. Hello?”

“Who are you?” Ranmaru asks, opening another can and putting it to his lips.

“Oh, hey! You’re Rei-chan’s roommate right? Oh, I’m Keiji,” the voice greets, “I’m downstairs with Rei-chan right now, do you mind coming to get him? I’m going out with the boys after this for another round so I’m just dropping him off, ok?”

“Downstairs right?” Ranmaru confirms, placing down his drink and picking himself up from the couch to head towards the door. He barely hears a ‘Yeah!’ from the speaker before he closes his phone and cuts the call. He grabs his coat from the entrance and heads out, down the building. 

He walks out to the front of the building before looping to the back, seeing Reiji’s green car and another one closely tailgating down the road before sharply turning in to the parking lot and haphazardly turning into a spot. The car shuts down and an unfamiliar man pops out of the driver’s seat, runs around the other side and pulls out a passed out Reiji. Ranmaru watches as the man locks the car, carries Reiji over and unceremoniously dumps him into his arms.

“Thanks man, I didn’t want to go deliver him to your door so thanks for coming out” the guy – Keiji says. This must be the Kei-chan Reiji mentioned earlier. The air around him is foul and Ranmaru scrunches his nose. Keiji grabs his hand and throws Reiji’s car keys into them before walking away to the other car. Keiji jumps into it and with a holler and a laugh, the car speeds down the street, heading to their next destination. Ranmaru looks back at Reiji’s car and knows that Reiji would distress over the fact that his car was taking up 3 spots in the morning but he wasn’t going to try to re-park it. Not that he had his license. Turning around with Reiji in his arms, he walks back to the apartment. Snow is still falling from the sky and Ranmaru wonders if it’ll stay.

\---

Kicking off his shoes at the front door, he hauls Reiji to his room and throws him onto his bed. Taking off Reiji’s shoes he brings them back out of the room to sit along with his. Ranmaru takes off his jacket and hangs it on its spot by the entranceway, locking the front door as well. He heads back into Reiji’s room and tries to peel of the jacket from the sleeping man. Propping Reiji up on his shoulder, he successfully takes off his jacket and tosses it aside. Reiji stirs and delicately places a hand on Ranmaru’s cheek and immediately, Ranmaru freezes in his place. Reiji’s brown eyes open and stare into Ranmaru’s grey, his eyes are glazed as if he’s looking into a far off plane. Trapped between his gaze, Ranmaru doesn’t even register when Reiji leans forward to kiss him on the lips. Ranmaru blinks in realization and breaks away, only to be pushed down by Reiji’s weight.

“Hey, Reiji-“ Ranmaru hesitates, looking up at the man above him before their mouths are mashed together again. He can taste Reiji in his mouth, feel him in his throat, Reiji’s hand is underneath his head to not let him go and maybe it’s the alcohol in his blood, but he stops thinking, lets go and just feels. He closes his eyes as he cradles Reiji’s face with his hand and has his arm over Reiji’s neck with his other, deepening their kiss, reciprocating as if it was instinct. They kiss like it’s a hunger that needs to be sated; their tongues meld together as they devour each other, barely enough room for a breath. Reiji’s hand snakes under Ranmaru’s shirt, fondling the muscles underneath and Ranmaru back arches slightly under his touch, his pale skin on fire as he moans into Reiji’s mouth.

He’s hard and Reiji is too. He can feel his erection rubbing against the thin fabric of his pants and Reiji’s hips pressing down for some friction. Ranmaru groans from the pleasure and his breath hitches as Reiji’s hand makes his way up his body and squeezes his nipple. He pants hard, cheeks flushed as Reiji pulls off his tank top with his hand and presses kisses down his neck to his navel before sitting up. Gazing down on him, Reiji grabs a condom from his back pocket and undoes his pants, freeing his erection into Ranmaru’s sight. Ranmaru watches in a trance as Reiji rips off the foil from the condom and rolls the condom onto his erect length. Sitting up as well, Ranmaru pushes Reiji down on his back, pinning Reiji’s arms underneath him. Ranmaru slips a finger under the waistband of his pants and underwear and takes them off. He looks over at Reiji’s bedside table and opens the drawer, his hand fishing inside.

“Even someone like you should have lube right?” he whispers into the open air. He finds the lube and flicks open the cap, licking his lips before kissing Reiji again. He squeezes the gel on to his fingers, warming it up before reaching behind him to open himself. Still kissing Reiji, Ranmaru shudders as he fingers himself, his other hand reaching up to cover Reiji’s eyes. 

“I just need you to stay hard long enough to take me, ok?” Ranmaru says softly, taking out his fingers and wiping off the excess lube onto Reiji’s cock, giving it a stroke or two before positioning himself on top of Reiji. He guides Reiji’s tip to his entrance and slides himself down on to Reiji’s length, a soft moan escapes his lips as he submits to the pleasure. He begins to move, fucking himself on Reiji’s cock, his body clenching around the heat. He moves faster, gravity pulling him further down, deeper inside as he rides Reiji, a heat coiling in his stomach. With his free hand he pumps his own dick to his fast paced rhythm as the room is filled with his heated voice. His mind is blank and all he can focus on is riding out the pleasure as he lowers himself again and again on Reiji’s cock.

Reiji still caught under his weight, shifts his body and frees his hands from underneath him, grabbing Ranmaru’s thigh with one hand and pushing himself up with the other. With a surprised yelp, Ranmaru is pushed onto his back, the hand that was on Reiji’s face is pushed above his head as Reiji pins him down and reverse their positions. Releasing Ranmaru’s arm, Reiji firmly grabs hold of Ranmaru’s other thigh and thrusts firmly into Ranmaru’s tight hole, a throaty moan escaping Ranmaru. Ranmaru’s body shakes as Reiji thrusts into him, over and over, his hands grabbing at the bed sheets underneath. His breath is hot and the heat in his stomach burns as he is spread wider and wider until it overflows and he’s seeing stars. He comes all over his stomach, white sticky semen over his flushed skin as his body spasms from the pleasure. He can feel Reiji still inside, pistoning in and out his over stimulated body until he quickly pulls out and flips Ranmaru’s boneless body over.

“Ah, w-wait-,” his voice asks, wreaked and he’s cut off by Reiji entering him again, hoisting his ass into the air. He braces his arms in front of him, his head in the mattress as he continues to take Reiji, his mouth hanging open and his voice spilling out with every thrust. He can feel himself getting hard again as Reiji snapped his hips ever so deliciously into him. He swallows back the saliva pooling in his throat as he rubs himself against the mattress beneath him. Reiji’s hands come up his sides, up his torso as he gropes Ranmaru’s skin. He can feel Reiji kissing and biting the back of his neck, down his spine and he clenches the bed sheets in his hands tighter. 

“You’re so beautiful,” a voice full of wonder speaks. A voice filled with desire. The clear voice cuts through the hot air like butter.

And the moment Reiji speaks, the illusion breaks, Ranmaru freezes and the heat leaves his body. His mind snaps back together, like perfect gears aligning as he just realizes what he was doing. He braces his body as he waits for Reiji to finish, his mind darting as he recalls the last few minutes with a sinking feeling in his gut. He grits his teeth as he forces down the pleasure he feels with an intense shame overcoming his conscious. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. His body rocks as Reiji thrusts in one last time before coming with full force into Ranmaru. He can feel Reiji become flaccid as he pulls out and falls into the bed beside him. His heart is in his throat and he can’t breathe, he doesn’t dare lift his face from the mattress. His mind is running a mile a minute, instant regret washing over as he covers his eyes with his hands, looking into pitch black darkness, his mind taking over. 

He wasn’t looking for love. He wasn’t looking for love. He wasn’t looking for love. He wasn’t looking for love. He wasn’t looking for love. He wasn’t looking for love. That’s what he told himself, over and over. But. Now that he tasted it, he wanted it. He wants it. He wants it. He wants it so bad that he- 

He slowly looks up beside him to see Reiji’s face and for the first time that night; he’s actually looking, actually seeing him. Reiji is asleep, sated and his face is full of post-coital bliss. His brown hair rests softly on the side of his face and Ranmaru just stops himself from reaching out to brush it. Murmurs from the hall flow into the room and Ranmaru turns on to his back, facing the door as he realizes he hasn’t turned off the television outside. He slowly sits up and rubs his hands into his face, swimming in his thoughts. 

_‘Did you think getting close to Rei-chan would give you a chance?’_ a voice in his head asks him.

He never had a chance. Not once, not ever.

_‘Rei-chan will never, ever, love you!’_

He knew. He knows.

_“You like Kotobuki-senpai don’t you? Is it really okay?”_

He fucking wished he didn’t. He really fucking wished he didn’t. He tried so hard not to. But he couldn’t choose who he would fall in love with. He didn’t ask for this. Not like this.

_‘Don’t you have any pride?’_

He was a fucking hypocrite. Disgusting. He was just like one of them. Like every last fucking one of them. He never hated alcohol more in his life and he hated himself even more. Why did he do that? Why did he do that? Why didn’t he stop it? Why didn’t he push Reiji away? Why didn’t he stop himself? Why didn’t he say no? How would he face Reiji now? How would he face him in the morning? How would he face himself?

He fucking knew why he didn’t push Reiji away and he hates it. He wanted to stab his heart, stab it so he didn’t need to feel anymore. Stab it so he couldn’t love any more. Stab it so the guilt could bleed out and he could die. Stab it, rip it out and destroy it so he could face Reiji in the morning without hating himself.

He lowers his hands from his eyes and stares into the empty space between them.

If he could light himself on fire, he would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Story notes:
> 
> Idk how many people reading this fic lives in a place where winter doesn't exist but it really does get dark at 4 pm.  
> ________________
> 
> Other notes:
> 
> So Ranmaru doesn't have a scarf in this fic even though I gave him one in my Christmas fic. Maybe I'll make Reiji give him one here too haha
> 
> I just realized writing this, that for the last 3 chapters, I've ended them all with both of them coming home.
> 
> Also, sorry, you don't get to hear Ranmaru's sexy voice, I'm saving it for later.
> 
> In hindsight, this chapter should have probably been split into at least 2 but I always saw it as 1 so we got 1.
> 
> Writing this fic makes me really sad, I just want to skip to the end where they're happy but alas, I'll see it through  
> Credits to Ryeowook for releasing his songs 'I'm not over you' and 'Drunk in the morning' to get me in the mood to write the sad parts.
> 
> Anyways, all of your comments really help and makes me all warm and fuzzy so thank you! <3 (And sorry for making you wait so long!) I also blab way too much on these end notes.
> 
> It's a bit late but I'll probably write a New Years fluff fic to balance this one out. It's not too late, is it?  
> Edit: I wrote the new years fic! :D


	4. Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in·ter·lude
> 
> /ˈin(t)ərˌlo͞od/  
> noun
> 
> an intervening period of time.
> 
> a pause between the acts of a play.
> 
> something performed during a theater intermission.

_Ding dong!_

The chime of the doorbell rings in the silent, vast night. There are a few stars in the sky, dim and the clouds are thick, muting the light of the moon. It’s just past 2 am in the morning and there isn’t as much as a soft breeze in the still September night. Inside, a soft rush of steps hurries to the front door and the bolt is unlocked with a heavy click, opening to see Ren. The light from the house spilling into the dark night, it shines around the tall man as if it gave him an otherworldly aura.

“Yes, who is – oh, Ran-chan,” Ren says softly. He looks shocked, eyes slightly wide as he peers out, looking onto the street, left and then right. Something seems amiss.

“What are you doing out here in the middle of the night? Where’s Bukki?” Ren asks. The man in front of him looks around him, lost, as if he’s trying to find the tail of a ghost.

“He’s not here,” Ranmaru says as he turns back to Ren. More footsteps thud from inside the house towards the entrance and questions of “who’s there?”, “what’s going on?” and “is everything ok?” flood the hallway. 

“Ah, Ranmaru-senpai,” Syo says, peering behind Ren to get a look out the door while his other friends pool around. 

“Hm? Maru-chan-senpai, why are you here?” Natsuki asks inquisitively.

Ranmaru looks at them in surprise as if something snapped in his brain.

“Ah, sorry,” he says, voice hollow, “am I interrupting something?” He doesn’t wait for an answer and turns to leave, before he’s grabbed by the arm and pulled back.

“Hang on,” Ren says with a smile and a pause, “why don’t you come in? It’s okay Ran-chan, my door is always open for you.” And without a chance to protest, Ranmaru is pulled into the light.

\---

“Here, Ranmaru-senpai. Is tea alright?” Haruka asks, placing a cup of piping hot tea on the table in front of the silver haired man, who was seated on the couch.

“Yeah, thanks,” Ranmaru says before gingerly taking the cup and holding it as if to warm his hands. Haruka looks back at her friends who were watching alongside her, worried looks on their faces. They huddled around a set of empty chairs by the table, but no one daring to sit, the silence disturbed by a tableside clock that loudly clicks. They were in a small drawing room just past the foyer of the entrance; their movie was paused in the living room a couple of feet away.

“Um, is something wrong Ranmaru-senpai? Could it be, university is tough?” Cecil asks, concerned. Cecil and the rest were just high school seniors, they had no idea what hardships awaited in university. He’s heard that it’s pretty brutal, his high school teachers have been scaring them every chance they got with university horror stories. Uncompromising professors, exams that could make you fail an entire course if you marked the scantron incorrectly, studies that eclipsed everything else in your life, the list went on and on. 

“That’s right, Kurosaki-san, you just started your first year of university a week ago, it must be tough,” Masato sympathizes with a nod. Ranmaru breathes a small amused puff and a small smile spreads on his features. 

“No, it’s not university,” he replies, looking into his cup of tea, “uni’s been fine.” The friends look at each other questioningly again and then back at the older man. If it wasn’t university, then what could be bothering him so much? The teens look at each other, wishing they could crack the puzzle and remedy whatever was plaguing the older man. Somehow they couldn’t help but think that the presence of a certain person would be extremely helpful at this moment. Kotobuki Reiji was always someone the friends could go to for some much needed advice. But now that they were thrusted onto the helping end, it suddenly seemed that they couldn’t quite help in the same way. More so to a man who usually kept to himself and was actually closer to Reiji than any of them were.

Otoya looks around the room hesitantly before innocently asking, “Ranmaru-senpai, did you… get into a fight with Rei-chan?” Ranmaru visibly flinches at the name and looks deeper into his cup. He opens his mouth as to say something before stopping himself and shutting it. He closes his eyes and his brows wrinkle, pausing before opening them up again. 

“No, I didn’t have a fight with Reiji,” he says staring back into his tea, “I just… needed a breath of fresh air.” He looks up at his friends and places down the tea on the table. “I interrupted something when I came right? You guys can get back to what you were doing, I’ll just sit here for a bit,” he dismisses them and leans back onto the couch. At the sudden dismissal, the others look at each other before respecting his wishes and turning to head out to the room next door.

 

\---

“So, do we continue our movie?” Syo asks hesitantly, glancing at the action flick that was stopped in mid-motion. The actor on the screen was in the middle of a chase; he looked ridiculous as he was a paused mid-jump, arms wide to catch the edge of a building. The nine friends sit down as they ponder in silence, before Ren grabs the remote control and presses a button, turning back on the movie, where the man suspended in flight resumes his fall.

“I wonder what happened to Ranmaru-senpai,” Tomochika wonders worried, as she leans onto Haruka’s shoulder. 

“It has to do with Kotobuki-senpai, right?” Haruka asks silently. The others hum in agreement as they are lost in thought. They sit together in a circle, facing away from the animated screen.

“It’s true,” Masato agrees, his hand at his chin as he recalls the conversation just moments before. “Kurosaki-san was acting a little strange earlier when we asked about him.”

“But, Ranmaru-senpai said that they didn’t get into a fight,” Otoya points out, “so what could have happened?”

“Hmm, maybe instead of fighting, perhaps Kotobuki-san did something that Kurosaki-san didn’t like?” Tokiya proposes. The others look at him as he he had hit the nail on the head and nod in agreement.

“Something that Ranmaru-senpai doesn’t like?” Cecil ponders fruitlessly.

“Something that Maru-chan-senpai doesn’t like…” Natsuki repeats, eyes downcast, “I wonder what it could be.”

“That’s true, Reiji-senpai is always doing something or another,” Syo says with a scrunched up brow, thinking hard. “Ah, I don’t know!”

“Well, we could wait for him to tell us but, why don’t we just ask,” Ren suggests with a soft smile. They all look at Ren in surprise like he’s gone crazy.

“B-but,” Haruka protests, “Kurosaki-senpai said-“

“I know,” Ren says knowingly, “Ran-chan might not talk to us all, but if it’s just one of us, then he might. It’s not much, but listening is all we can do for him. And if Ran-chan doesn’t want to talk, then we’ll just give him some space.”

The others look at each other in silence. Worried, not really sure if it was a good idea to ask the troubled man what was wrong after he just told them to leave.

“But, who will…” Cecil asks, breaking the silence as his voice trails, looking amongst his friends. Ren stands up from his spot and all of their eyes dart up his tall figure.

“I’ll do it,” Ren says, “Hijirikawa and I have known Ran-chan the longest so he might talk to me. Hijirikawa, you’re okay with this right?”

“Yes, I think your approach would be best right now. We’re counting on you, Jinguuji,” Masato responds, as he looks up to meet Ren’s eyes. Ren nods and places a hand on his hip.

“Leave it to me.”

\---

Ren walks down the hall and peers into the drawing room where Ranmaru lay, resting on the couch, his back to the door. He walks in as his friends scurry closely behind, close by but not close enough to be seen in the room. He walks in and sits down on an armchair and waits. He couldn’t hear the soft breathing of snores so Ranmaru had be awake, and he waits until Ranmaru opens his eyes. Moments later, Ren can see magenta under half-lidded eyes, staring at the back of the couch before turning his head to meet Ren’s. Ranmaru sighs, looking away and covers his eyes with the back of his arm, his hand out and open.

Taking a breath and pushing down whatever reluctance he had, Ren starts, “Ran-cha-“

“I walked into Reiji having sex in our apartment,” Ranmaru blurts out, interrupting the former, with the truth out in the open. Ren holds his breath in shock as he stares in realization at Ranmaru’s empty hand. At a loss for words, he is frozen in his spot, his mouth slightly open and his mind blanks out. At the revelation, a small memory of the past resurfaces in Ren’s mind. 

It was a year ago, in the high school cafeteria on an average day. It was busy and bustling like usual with noisy chatter, and the silver-haired man in front of him was sitting at the end of the cafeteria table, flustered. Down the table, some of his friends laughed in excitement and others looked starry-eyed as they revealed that they knew who Ranmaru liked. Fighting down the flush on his face, he snapped back saying, _“if any of you fucking tell him, I’m going to kill you all!”_ They all shared another laugh before sating the demon and promising not to say a word. And like the friends they were, they would occasionally try to play cupid or futilely convince him to confess. Because somewhere deep down in their light hearted laughter, they thought that maybe it would all work out.

Swallowing a lump that had formed in his throat, the old memory suddenly felt like a slap in the face. Polarizing, it felt as if time had stopped. And if it wasn’t the damned clock that continued to tick away, slicing at the silence in the room, Ren would have prayed that it would stop so he could gather his thoughts. He blinks and shakes the shock away.

“I had the late shift at the diner today,” Ranmaru continues, his throat tight, “Got back at 11ish and Reiji… invited people over or something. I … left when I heard them… doing it.” His hand now clenched into a fist, he holds back every feeling he has with his strength. “I walked around for a bit and somehow I ended up here.”

With a final pause and breath, Ranmaru relaxes his hand. “Sorry, but could I stay here for the night? I don’t want to…” his voice trails as he can’t complete his sentence. _I don’t want to go back._ “I’ll leave by morning.”

“Of course, stay as long as you like,” Ren says quickly. He feels like he’s holding a fragile glass orb in his hand and any small movements would cause it to shatter. Ren’s furrowed brow and serious expression looks out of place on his sharp features, compared to his typical suave and cool demeanour. He looks at Ranmaru with a worried expression before he opens his mouth and says the one thought on his mind, “Ran-chan, I’m so sorry.“

“It’s fine.” Ranmaru replies, “it was bound to happen eventually. I was prepared. I just didn’t think that it would…. Be like this.”

“Of course, no one would’ve,” Ren emptily chimes afterwards. He blindly wonders how many times Ranmaru had cycled that thought in his head. Ten times? A hundred times? A thousand times? The whole three hours it took for him to get here? Before university? From the time of that old memory where they all laughed?

“I knew it would happen. I knew, but fuck. It still fucking hurts…” Ranmaru breathes.

Ren closes his eyes as he takes in the situation. He doesn’t know if he should tell him that it’ll be okay or if he should let go. Of course it wasn’t okay, of course it wasn’t. No one would want the person they loved to be with someone else.

“So, what now? Ran-chan…” Ren whispers to himself, before realizing he said his thoughts aloud and jolting up in response to take it back.

“Nothing,” Ranmaru says, “tomorrow I’ll leave and go back and it’ll be like usual. Reiji will be Reiji and I’ll be me. Nothing will happen.”

“But, Ran-cha-“

“Ren,” Ranmaru interrupts, lifting his arm from his eyes to look straight into Ren’s blue, “if I could choose who to fall in love with, it wouldn’t be Reiji.” He says this with all honesty and Ren is left with nothing to deny. There’s nothing left to say.

“I’m gonna sleep now, so you can go back to watching your movie with the others.” Ranmaru props his hand underneath his head and turns to face the back of the couch again.

“I’ll go get you a blanket then at least,” Ren gets up and offers plainly.

“Don’t need it.”

Ren walks out of the room and briefly considers grabbing that blanket before deciding against it. He notices that his friends are no longer huddled around the room either. They are back at the television in the living room, but none of them are watching, their eyes downcast. Ren returns to them and sits down on amongst his friends on the couch before looking up at the movie. The main actor just got shot and as he bleeds out, he clutches the hand of the heroine whispering words Ren had no capacity to understand at the moment. He watches for a few more moments before he leans back against the plush fabric and closes his eyes.

\---

A soft vibration in his pocket wakes up Ren from his light slumber. His eyes open as he pushes himself upright, his head heavy and takes a look around him. His friends are asleep - leaning on each other, the lamplight that softly lights up the room is still on and the television has automatically turned off from the inactivity. He pulls out his phone as the notification light blinks back at him. The light pierces through the darkness and it hurts his eyes from the pulsing brightness. He unlocks his phone and glances at the message on the screen. 

**Rei-chan♪:** Does anyone know where Ranran is? 

****

It’s short and to the point with none of Reiji’s standard flavour text. There’s a pit at the bottom of his stomach and he doesn’t know how to respond. He doesn’t know if he should hide or reveal the truth that was only a few meters away. Out of the corner of his eye, Ren notices other flashing lights around the room. Reiji sent out a message to the group, which would explain the lack of a greeting in his message as well. The phone in his hand vibrates again and simultaneously, the other devices in the room also ping. Ren looks back at the screen and a follow up message from Reiji pops up under his first message.

 **Rei-chan♪:** Sorry, Ranran just isn’t picking up his phone! If anyone knows, could you let me know?

A couple of chat stickers are sent under the message. Ren stares back at the text and the uncertainty of messaging back sits on his shoulder. He wishes he didn’t wake up to see the messages but now that he has, all he can think about is Reiji on the other side of the line and the man in the next room over. Ren checks the time and it's just barely past 4:30 am. He rubs a hand over his face and slowly gets up, as to not wake up any of his sleeping friends. He heads out of the room, making his way over to Ranmaru for the third time that night and places a hand on his shoulder to lightly shake him awake.

At the slight shake, Ranmaru groans, sluggishly turning onto his back and sleepy eyes crack open, blinking back questioningly at Ren. 

“Bukki is asking where you are and is trying to call you,” Ren says softly. And after a pause, “What should I tell him?” he asks truthfully. Ren doesn’t know what expression he has on now but he hopes that whatever it is, it is sufficient. 

“What time is it now?” Ranmaru asks with a sigh.

“Just past 4:30.”

Ranmaru slowly raises himself up and gives his body a small stretch. “Just tell him I’m here,” he replies without looking at Ren. Ren looks at Ranmaru’s back for a brief instant before turning to his phone in hand and types a reply to Reiji, pressing send.

 **Me:** Ran-chan is as my place. No need to worry.

Not much longer than a couple of seconds, Ren’s phone vibrates with a quick flurry of messages.  
**Rei-chan♪:** Really?  
**Rei-chan♪:** He’s with you?  
**Rei-chan♪:** Thank god  
**Rei-chan♪:** Thank you, Renren

Ren watches Reiji’s chat bubble jump to life as it signals that he’s writing something before it stops and then suddenly disappears. Ren looks back up to face Ranmaru, who was now sitting up properly on the couch.

“I told him,” he relays. Ranmaru hums in reply and pulls out his flip phone from his pocket, staring at it as if it would suddenly start ringing. He looks up at Ren to find him looking at the device in his hand and he puts it on the table in front of him.

“I turned it off,” Ranmaru says. 

Ren jumps a bit as he’s caught staring and composes himself. “Maybe you should turn it back on?” Ren suggests. He almost adds that Ranmaru is notoriously difficult to contact on a regular basis but decides against it. “Bukki knows that you’re here already so it’s okay.” 

“Yeah… maybe later.” Ranmaru says with a soft but neutral expression. He’s not smiling but he’s not the way he was a couple of hours before. Ren’s glad. 

“Want something to eat? Or are you going to sleep again?” Ren asks with a smile. It wasn’t much, but if he could make sure that the older man was eating properly, resting and taking care of himself, it would make him feel better. He was a pretty good host too if he said so himself, and as his guest, he would do anything at the moment to help him out.

“It's fine, you don’t need to-” Ranmaru starts but Ren is already turning to go out of the room to grab some food. 

“Shinomi brought over some cupcakes and stuff earlier,” Ren laughs, and walks out of the room to fetch some, “they’re pretty good!”

“Ah, wait-“

Ren walks past his room of sleeping friends to the kitchen to grab a plate and cup of water. Filling up the glass, he then silently slips into the room of his friends and grabs a couple of cupcakes and cookies from a towering stack that sat in a Piyo-chan container that sat in the midst of a bunch of other snacks. Making sure not to accidentally trip on any lying bodies on the floor, he returns with his stash, precariously balanced on the plate. Ranmaru is staring at the plate with a bit of a grimace and Ren is just about to place it on the table in front of him when the doorbell rings. They freeze in place and almost immediately, Ranmaru’s face falls. 

_Ding dong!_ The bell rings again and Ren’s attention springs to the door. He hurriedly sets the plate and cup down and quickly heads to the front door. He doesn’t know why he feels a sudden urgency to open the door at the late hour. But when he does, he opens it to find Kotobuki Reiji, hunched over his knees, slightly out of breath. His hair is a little dishevelled and his jacket is hanging off of his shoulder but when the door opens, he raises his head to meet Ren’s and a smile spreads on his face.

“S-sorry Renren, I should’ve probably asked if I could come over first,” Reiji apologizes as he continues to catch his breath. “I just… Is Ranran still here?”

“Y-yeah, he’s here. Would you like to come in?” Ren asks, stepping aside so Reiji could come in.

“Thanks,” Reiji replies sheepishly and takes off his shoes upon entering, immediately his focus elsewhere.

“Ran-chan’s in the room over there,” Ren points to the drawing room just past the foyer. Before he finishes his sentence, Reiji is already moving down the hall, leaving Ren at the entrance to follow behind. “Bukki! Hang on-“ Ren says, closing the door and hurrying after the shorter man. Reiji reaches the room and looks in to see Ranmaru sitting on a couch, his eyes wide and surprised at Reiji’s sudden appearance. Without stopping or skipping a beat, Reiji makes his way over to Ranmaru, his face tense. 

“Reiji-“ Ranmaru starts, his voice alarmed, before he’s interrupted by Reiji who forcefully grabs him by the shoulders and pulls him up into an embrace. His hands frozen in the air at his side as he sits there bewildered and confused at the sudden turn of events. Behind Reiji’s back, he can see Ren at the foot of the room also in shock but he forgets everything when he feels Reiji’s head drop on to his shoulder.

“Finally, I finally found you. I finally found you,” Reiji repeats softly, his voice a little muffled in the embrace. Ranmaru relaxes his arms and Reiji holds on to him for a couple more moments before pulling away, looking at Ranmaru up and down. “Are you hurt? Are you okay?” Reiji asks, searching.

“Huh?” Ranmaru replies, puzzled at Reiji’s franticness and the unease pushes him to answer. “No, I’m fine.”

Reiji breathes a sigh of relief and drops his head. “Good. That’s really good,” Reiji says as he sits down beside Ranmaru and pulls the bewildered man into another embrace. “I was so worried. Your door was open and you weren’t home, I called your phone and it wouldn’t connect. I thought that you got into a fight and I waited for you to return but you never did. I went out to try to find you but I couldn’t… I couldn’t find you.”

“Ah… Sorry,” Ranmaru apologizes, his hands awkwardly resting on Reiji’s back. 

“If you were coming to Renren’s place, you should have told me. I really thought that you were in trouble.”

“My phone ran out of battery, sorry. Ren has nothing to charge my phone with.” And with that, Reiji gives a bit of a small chuckle and hugs Ranmaru a little bit tighter. 

“But, I’m so glad. If you got into a fight and I couldn’t find you, I don’t know what I would do. I’m so glad you’re okay,” Reiji breathes. “Please, Ranran. Please don’t go anywhere I can’t find you. Okay?”

Ranmaru stares up at the ceiling and feels the warmth in his hands. He plays Reiji’s last request in his mind again and lets out a slow exhale, clearing his mind. “Yeah, okay.”

Ren looks at Ranmaru face and he’s smiling. It’s a soft expression and it’s only a small curl of his lips, but it’s honest. A mix of bliss and acceptance. The two separate and Reiji turns to look at Ren.

“I’m so sorry again for coming so late, Renren! I really am.” Reiji says bashfully, his hands pressed together in apology.

“No, it’s fine, it really is. Bukki, would you like to stay the night too?” Ren asks. “I could go get some blankets or-“

“Nope, I’m going to head back. I need to be up early to help out the prof so it’ll be faster back at our place. But thanks!” Reiji says, pulling out his car keys from his jacket pocket before turning to Ranmaru. “How about you Ranran? Are you going to stay here?”

“Eh? Reiji-senpai?” The voice of Syo sleepily asks. Suddenly a dozen of lethargic shuffles approach the room.

“Rei-chan? Is Rei-chan here?” Otoya asks blearily walking towards Ren.

“Kotobuki…senpai? Why are you here so early in the morning?” Haruka asks tiredly, facing Reiji.

“Ah, oh my, did I wake you all up? Sorry, sorry! You kids go back to sleep! Rei-chan’s leaving now!” Reiji says trying to shoo his underclassmen back to bed as they all slowly circled around the unexpected visitor, yawning. 

Ranmaru gets up from his place on the couch and faces Reiji. “I’m going to leave too. I was planning on to leaving in the morning anyways. If you’re leaving, I’ll come with you,” he says. The two say their good byes and leave, Ranmaru gives Ren a quick thanks before Ren closes the door behind them and locks up. 

Ren turns around to see his friends returning to sleep as they file out of the drawing room into the living room they occupied next door. Ren walks towards the room and notices Haruka who has picked up the teacup from the table and cradles it in her hand. 

“We can clean it up in the morning. Let’s go back to sleep little lamb,” Ren says as he gently takes the cup from her hands and places the full cup on the table beside the cookies and cupcakes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Notes:  
> After this, Reiji has all of his friends on speed dial
> 
> \---
> 
> Author notes:
> 
> So this subchapter we stepped a little bit back in time, Ranmaru and Reiji just entered uni. Next chapter will continue from where we left off!
> 
> Also, sorry for the long wait for such a short chapter (and not even a continuation), I took a long break after the last chapter because that one really killed my mood
> 
> This chapter was supposed to come out sooner, but... things happened. This chap is dedicated to our lovely Starish boy Ren for his birthday! (even though it's super late!)
> 
> (Also, I know this is probably not the place to rave about this but I needed to scream this somewhere, Kijin Ranmaru in SL, god I'm living AHHHH)
> 
> Also, I really wanted to write a Reiran fic for Valentines but I really wasn't inspired and have no plot bunnies? If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them!
> 
> Thanks for reading like always!


End file.
